The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: 4 talking points

The early reviews are in, and critics are hailing Rooney Mara's star-making turn as tattooed hacker Lisbeth Salander

Rooney Mara's gutsy performance as gothic hacker Lisbeth Salander is the most captivating part of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," critics say.
(Image credit: Facebook/The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, one of the holiday season's most anticipated films, doesn't come out until next week. But the reviews are already coming in, and critics are split on the blockbuster from Oscar-nominated director David Fincher (The Social Network). The film is based on the first book in Stieg Larsson's massively popular "Millennium" trilogy, which was already made into a well-received Swedish-language film. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a brutally dark tale that follows a journalist and computer hacker through a gruesome murder investigation. (Watch the trailer here.) Here, four talking points from early reviews of the film:

1. Rooney Mara delivers a star-making performance

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Kevin Fallon is a reporter for The Daily Beast. Previously, he was the entertainment editor at TheWeek.com and a writer and producer for TheAtlantic.com's entertainment vertical. He is only mildly embarrassed by the fact that he still watches Glee.