God I love this time of year.  Tons of great movies hitting the multiplexes.  God I hate this time of year.  Tons of reviews to crank out, and I’m a two-bit hack as it is.  Oh well.  Still with me?  Okay, ‘cause you’re really gonna want to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  Yeah, it’s up for two Golden Globes (one for actress Rooney Mara, and another for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score), but don’t go because it’s been nominated.  Go because there’s a reason why it’s getting noticed; it’s good.

Sweden.  Land of IKEA and delicious, delicious meatballs.  And some really twisted fucks that make the warped sickos here in the States look like kids playing around, or so Stieg Larsson would have you believe in his Millennium trilogy of novels.  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is book one, and it’s already been made into a brilliant movie across the pond.  In this remake/reinterpretation, David Fincher brings his skill at storytelling that gave the world Fight Club, The Social Network and (my personal favorite) Se7en to the story of Lisbeth Salander, a young woman who is really messed up, and with good reason.  A ward of the state, she’s had to rely upon the kindness of her state-appointed guardians for her living expenses.  Let’s just say that her recent guardian hasn’t been all that interested in her best interest.  Meanwhile, journalist Mikael Blomkvist has dug himself a hole that he can’t seem to get out of.  When older gentleman — a moneybags of an older gentleman — Henrik Vanger wants to figure out who killed his favorite niece decades ago, Lisbeth and Mikael’s worlds collide.  And that’s just the beginning of this story.

The Swedish Tattoo was a cold, desolate place with twists, turns and secrets so deep it was difficult to keep up.  (Amazing though, without a doubt, and if you haven’t seen all three of the Swedish films you really need to.)Viewers were rewarded for their dilligence, but you had to work for it.  Here, Fincher cuts the story to the bone, showing you exactly what you need to know when you need to know it.  This keeps the movie moving at a brisk pace, but the art direction (post-it notes on maps to show bits of exposition rather than having characters talk viewers to death, a character highlighting information on paper then having the camera cut to a brief scene that plays out the highlighted text) lets the audience keep track of all the familial and professional ties that are so important in this twisted mystery.  The Sweden of this Lisbeth and Mikael is still cold and desolate, but there’s a mystery that is palpable.  Fincher keeps camera angles up close and personal, with medium and close up eye-level shots doing the bulk of the work, keeping viewers close to the action, almost a part of it.

It’s easier to connect with the characters in this Tattoo, partially because of the tweaks to the story in this version (it’s closer to the original novel than the Swedish film) but a big part of that has to do with the brilliant performances by Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) and Rooney Mara (The Social Network) as Mikael and Lisbeth.  The two are perfectly cast, and their chemistry lends a believability to the proceedings.  And there’s some dark proceedings in this movie.  As Henrik Vanger, Christopher Plummer is the head of another family that dealt with the Nazis in World War II.  But this time, it’s more like the Satanic Family Von Trapp.  The family is cast with well known actors, but much like the magazine office workers and friends Mikael has, these characters are kept to a minimum so viewers can concentrate on the two leads and the mystery that those two are trying to solve.

A word of warning to the folks that don’t know anything about the basic story of Lisbeth Salander: if you are easily freaked out by the more unsavory aspects of the human condition, be prepared to be freaked.  As with the Swedish version of Tattoo, no punches are pulled when the film shows just how horrible Lisbeth’s life has been.  This film doesn’t airbrush out the ugly, it gets right in to the muck and jams both hands up to the elbows in it.  There was some discussion on the possibility of an NC-17 rating for this film, but it’s been released with an R rating.  Let’s just say Rooney Mara worked for that Golden Globe nod, no question.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a fascinating look at how high-stakes corporations sweep dirty secrets under the rug and how they can cripple those weaker or poorer then them.  It also shows that the system of state guardianship needs to be overhauled and investigated, no matter what country  you’re living in.  And it does a damn good job of bringing a brilliant novel to life, giving filmgoers a messy, compelling mystery for the holidays.  Who needs another remake?  If they’re as good as this one, bring ‘em on.  I’m already hoping for reboots of The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.