‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Blu-ray etches an indelible impression
by Steven Foster
The oily black cyberf–k title sequence alone makes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie crack worth scoring. David Fincher’s icicle-sharp take on the monster bestseller captures all the serial-killer evil, ponderous mystery, and cruel, nervy verve of Stieg Larsson’s twisted S&M love letter.
And the Girl home release is as meticulously crafted as any Fincher film—or rather, the Blu-ray version is. The standard DVD is so chintzy you can almost feel Sony’s corporate hand forcing you to cough up the extra bucks for the Blu-ray. But unlike iconic heroine Lisbeth Salander’s wincing-to-witness assault, you won’t feel abused. The B-R features a gorge-fest of extras that enhance the film.
Not that the movie is any slacker on its own. Girlis the twisty tale of a disgraced journalist who teams up with a bisexual hacker and leather waif/revenging angel to find “a killer of women” at the behest of a wealthy Swedish magnate. The smart cast features new-millennium 007 Daniel Craig pulling back on the beefcake to go glasses-wearing journalist, Christopher Plummer playing an
aging creepy heavy, Stellan Skarsgård telegraphing guilt as one of the many spiderweb suspects, Robin Wright Penn (looking hotter than ever) as Craig’s employer/lover, and notorious but brilliant casting choice Rooney Mara, breaking snow-covered ground as the iconic heroine who, until Katniss Everdeen took over the multiplex with her PG-13 mettle, was the most engaging heroine in years.
So skip the DVD and go for the Blu-ray with its orgiastic revelry in all things Dragon, including the inside scoop on the now-infamous trailer—with Oscar-winner Trent Reznor and Karen O’s skin-shredding cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.
2011. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (sonypictures.com).
Steven Foster is a regular contributor to OutSmart magazine.
