In trying to be A Good and Responsible Site, we’re completely late to the aqua vit.
If you were online over Memorial Day weekend, you may have seen the Internet light up at the leaked red band trailer for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Filmed with a handheld camera, it seemed like the worst kind of bootleg. Some sites posted it. Others hesitated, suspecting Sony would come down like the wrath of a Scandinavian winter.
But they didn’t. And it began to look more and more like an orchestrated leak, particularly since the mysterious YouTube poster was from the land of ice and snow, where they don’t even have red band trailers. And the damn thing was in stereo. And David Fincher hadn’t freaked out, as he did when The Curious Case of Benjamin Button trailer leaked.
So apparently, it was all one big viral plot by Lisbeth Salander herself. And we neglected to post it. We’re sorry. Sony is probably laughing all the way to the tracking bank.
Now the discussion is moot, because The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trailer is now officially on Apple. It’s identical to the leaked red band, except that a flash of a nipple is gone, and I think there’s less blood. Overall, it’s a frenetic delight. It’s clearly upped the ante of the Swedish original, a film I do not remember very well because I drank an entire bottle of wine while watching it. (Skol!) But the alcohol didn’t entirely strip Noomi Rapace out of my memory. She was indeed awesome, and it’s going to be hard to beat her vicious grunge. Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth definitely is more sickly (that’s good, since she’s supposed to be anorexic) but her smoky eyes say “I have a professional make-up artist” as opposed to Rapace’s smeared-up eyeliner.
You can debate the merits of an American remake, and why David Fincher would bother … but at the very least, it’s brought The Immigrant Song back into the popular consciousness. And that’s wonderful!