The trend of reformatting hit international films is not new to Hollywood.
In recent memory it’s hard to forget some of the hits (The Departed adapted from the Chinese film Infernal Affairs), the average (Let Me In adapted from the Swedish Let The Right One In), the bad (Godzilla adapted from the Japanese classic Gojira) and the downright ugly (Spike Lee’s upcoming remake of the Korean Oldboy ?).
The Girl with Dragon Tattoo is the latest instance of this trend and like Let the Right One In it is another Swedish product that rose to international prominence. Normally when I hear about such adaptations, I shudder slightly. Somehow, the original integrity of the source material ends up being lost in transition. The American version invariably ends up adding or taking some sort of liberty with the film. Sadly this film is no exception to that.
The basic makeup of the films is similar enough but somehow the American version feels like its paced so much more slowly. It feels overly talky in places and certain aspects of the novel, like the sex scenes are highlighted where as they were somewhat diminished in the initial film. Other key events, like the flashback to the events surrounding Lisbeth (Rooney Mara in the US version and Noomi Rapace in the original) becoming a ward of the state and Mikael’s prison time, are noticeably absent.
The American version lasts a mere 6 minutes longer yet because it combines events from the second Swedish film seems to last much longer. This decision contributes to the absence of the feeling of closure of the original film and makes this film’s ending seem abrupt.
All those things being said, the score of this film was one of the strongest additions to the American version.
The opening seems to hearken back to Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails days and the score really helped establish the overall tone of the novel. His and Atticus Ross’s output is drastically different from the score they produced for The Social Network.
I thoroughly enjoyed this change. I just wish I could say the same for the film overall.
Without a doubt, I enjoyed the original more and sadly that can be said for a lot of American remakes. I hope in the future that that won’t be the case, but only time will tell. (We’re looking at you Spike.)
