Giving moviegoers the most accurate picture of movie reviews possible
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Movie Reviews
Story: Thriller about a young computer hacker who is hired by a journalist to aid in his search for a woman who has been missing for forty years. Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgård Director: David Fincher Opened: December 20, 2011 On DVD: March 20, 2012 From: Sony Pictures Rating: R Length: 2 hr. 40 min.
Out On DVD
MARCH 20, 2012
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Very Good Reviews
Updated: Sat, Apr 7 2012, 01:26pm
Digg This StumbleUpon del.icio.us Twitter Share on Facebook
 | E-Mail to a Friend  | Print 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo played to very good reviews. • David Germain wrote for the Associated Press, "...stark but enthralling... an ideal match of filmmaker and material.... Fincher gives screenwriter Steven Zaillian room to let the story and characters reveal themselves slowly." • And David Denby called the film in the New Yorker, "...a bleak but mesmerizing piece of filmmaking..."   More Reviews Below...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Positive Reviews
(51 Reviews,  reviews below)
 Compare This Movie... 
TotalBroad
National
Press
Local
News-
papers
Alter–
native/
Indie
High-
Brow
Press
Movie
Industry
NY/LA
Chicago
Toronto
Key
Cities
Total
B.O.
78.2% 83.2% 71.1% 68.4% 70.4% 72.3% 63.5% 80.6% $102.5M
Averages: 51.8% 54.1% 52.3% 46.9% 45.8% 48.7% 49.9% 54.7%
Reviews & Quotes (51)

BROAD NATIONAL PRESS (10 Reviews)
Alynda Wheat, People: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...unwatchable things happen, primarily to Lisbeth... The satisfaction of 'Dragon Tattoo' is watching Lisbeth realize that she, too, has power." (Read the full review...)
485 words, 12/21/11

Richard Corliss, Time: GOOD
"Seeing Fincher's version is like getting a Christmas gift of a book you already have.... it's essentially a reproduction of the same old 'Dragon.' " (Read the full review...)
1,607 words, 12/23/11

David Germain, Associated Press: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...stark but enthralling... an ideal match of filmmaker and material.... Fincher gives screenwriter Steven Zaillian room to let the story and characters reveal themselves slowly." (Read the full review...)
755 words, 12/15/11

Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"Fincher turns a humdrum mystery (based on the bestseller) into a series of briskly paced jaw-droppers punctuated by extreme violence... two-plus hours of breathtaking chill." (Read the full review...)
177 words, 12/22/11

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"Fincher has made 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' into an electrifying movie by turning the audience into addicts of the forbidden, looking for the sick and twisted things we can't see." (Read the full review...)
995 words, 12/16/11

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg)
"...brings the dazzle but shortchanges on the daring.... the film hangs back when you want it to come out swinging. Only Mara lets it bleed." (Read the full review...)
449 words, 01/06/12

Claudia Puig, USA Today: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...superbly sinister. Fincher handles the most lurid aspects deftly, capturing menace and grim despair in the frosty Scandinavian landscape." (Read the full review...)
437 words, 12/20/11

Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"It's an odd feeling to be seeing a movie that resembles its Swedish counterpart in so many ways, yet is subtly different... If I had a choice of seeing one or the other for the first time, I'd choose the original..." (Read the full review...)
779 words, 12/20/11

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...undeniably strong stuff, in large part because Fincher knows exactly when to drop the detachment and give the viewer a strong slap upside the head. But he never abandons his meticulousness..." (Read the full review...)
910 words, 12/14/11

James Berardinelli, Reel Views: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...what a movie adaptation should be: a film whose base narrative has its roots in the source material but whose soul can be identified through the images that unfold on screen." (Read the full review...)
1,507 words, 12/20/11
we have an app for when you're out and about
get our iPhone app...     get our mobile web app...
movie     review     intelligence
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (14 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: VERY GOOD
"...manages to hold onto the vivid and passionate essence of the book while remaining true enough to its busy plot to prevent literal-minded readers from rioting." (Read the full review...)
1,080 words, 12/20/11

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg)
"...this cold-case mystery based on the late Stieg Larsson's international bestseller is a common pop-cult commodity.... But Mara keeps us entranced even when we want to look away." (Read the full review...)
274 words, 12/20/11

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE
"Salander as a twitchy, anorexic waif feels more like a stunt than a complete character, and so the best part of the reason we care enough to endure all that mayhem has gone away." (Read the full review...)
824 words, 12/20/11

Kyle Smith, New York Post: WEAK (cg)
"...rubbish.... give Fincher credit for keeping things ripping along so quickly, but let's not make a virtue out of necessity." (Read the full review...)
724 words, 12/20/11

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD (cg)
"...the most coldly compelling version yet of the tale dreamed up by the late Stieg Larsson... If you needed another version of Larsson's proven combination of pruience and payoff, here you go." (Read the full review...)
638 words, 12/16/11

Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE (cg)
"...so uneven and overlong that it may leave non-fans wondering what all the fuss has been about.... [but] Mara is razor-sharp..." (Read the full review...)
360 words, 12/21/11

David Edelstein, New York Magazine: VERY GOOD
"...stuns or slumbers on the power of its Salander, and Rooney Mara is functional.... But the movie delivers. It brings the hate." (Read the full review...)
572 words, 12/19/11

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"It's an odd feeling to be seeing a movie that resembles its Swedish counterpart in so many ways, yet is subtly different... If I had a choice of seeing one or the other for the first time, I'd choose the original..." (Read the full review...)
779 words, 12/20/11

J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE
"...grossly overstays its welcome.... persists in pursuing three separate endings and, by the time they wrap, the movie is less a walk on the wild side than an evening stroll through a well-lit topiary garden." (Read the full review...)
640 words, 12/21/11

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD (cg)
"...it all comes down to the 'girl' of the title, played here with a ferocious combination of rawness and vulnerability by 26-year-old Rooney Mara." (Read the full review...)
1,056 words, 12/20/11

Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD (cg)
"...the break-out performance of Rooney Mara as the semi-feral computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander, gives the film a residue of authentic anguish." (Read the full review...)
818 words, 12/21/11

Josep Parera, La Opinion: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"Una verdadera lección de buen cine que solo David Fincher es capaz de elevar con su estilo, inteligencia y dedicación." (Read the full review...)
752 words, 12/20/11

Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg)
"If you've seen the Swedish adaptation, this one's superfluous. But if you're like the majority of North Americans and have a hate-on for subtitles - Hollywood firmly believes that means most of you - go for it." (Read the full review...)
441 words, 12/15/11
KEY CITIES (13 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg)
"...at once satisfying and underwhelming, a pristine, cooly atmospheric procedural thriller that comes to the party a tad overdressed in inexplicably breathless hype." (Read the full review...)
842 words, 12/20/11

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...long, but doesn't feel so. In fact, toward the end, it feels unnecessarily hurried, as mysteries are resolved, and as Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist start to look like an item..." (Read the full review...)
729 words, 12/20/11

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"The last scene, nearly wordless, is one of the great heartbreakers of modern film.... Fincher has made his first love story. It's a killer." (Read the full review...)
591 words, 12/20/11

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT (cg)
"...a bracing pop-culture experience. The story is a little too over the top, a little too uneven and has at least a couple too many endings to be called great... Mara's performance has a ferocity that will linger..." (Read the full review...)
656 words, 12/20/11

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD (cg)
"I don't think I've seen an actor do more with deadpan expressions than Mara does in this movie.... she pushes a little light through the character's dour darkness." (Read the full review...)
1,164 words, 12/21/11

Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: VERY GOOD (cg)
"...it is, like all Fincher films, meticulously made; it's also mostly faithful to the source material (although be prepared for a twist in the end)." (Read the full review...)
624 words, 12/20/11

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"Sometimes a movie is no more important than it should be, and the satisfaction it gives is entirely a consequence of its being exceptionally well made..." (Read the full review...)
727 words, 12/20/11

Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...very much its own movie and often thrilling... a sharp-edged, ultraviolent (though perhaps just a shade less so than the Swedish film) mystery wrapped in a character study." (Read the full review...)
543 words, 12/20/11

Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: VERY GOOD (cg)
"...tight, sharp and unflinching... There's powerful craft here, and Stieg Larsson's story has more than proven its ability to grip. But missing almost entirely is a sense of urgency and discovery." (Read the full review...)
602 words, 12/20/11

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"Craig sheds his James Bond persona with aplomb, and Mara is exhilarating in the role that brought stardom to actress Noomi Rapace." (Read the full review...)
296 words, 12/23/11

Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: VERY GOOD (cg)
"...there's an impressive aura of creepiness in the frigid locales and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' musical score..." (Read the full review...)
523 words, 12/20/11

Tom Long, Detroit News: GOOD (cg)
"...if you're a fan, you already know the drill. If you're not, and you like disturbing, violent films about damaged and brave people, this should serve you well-enough. Not a knockout, but not bad." (Read the full review...)
615 words, 12/20/11

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...the dynamic between Craig and Mara is so sensational, it instantly propels the movie beyond glossy, high-toned pulp into something far more affecting." (Read the full review...)
779 words, 12/21/11
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (10 Reviews)
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE
"...grossly overstays its welcome.... persists in pursuing three separate endings and, by the time they wrap, the movie is less a walk on the wild side than an evening stroll through a well-lit topiary garden." (Read the full review...)
640 words, 12/21/11

Katey Rich, Cinema Blend: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...a vast improvement on the source material, a brooding and gripping mystery that's captivating even if you know exactly how the story turns out." (Read the full review...)
816 words, 12/13/11

Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg)
"Fincher doesn't add much to Niels Arden Oplev's Swedish version: more Googling and plot-compressing montages and an altered but still convoluted ending." (Read the full review...)
139 words, 12/22/11

Scott Tobias, AV Club: EXCELLENT (cg)
"Mara's Salander is the film's lifeblood, a shrewd yet vulnerable outsider whose resilience and pluck help Fincher elevate the film above the standard procedural. But just barely." (Read the full review...)
396 words, 12/20/11

Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline: EXCELLENT (cg)
"...succeeds as a sharp piece of entertainment craftsmanship. The ripples of pleasure and dread it generates are nearly indistinguishable." (Read the full review...)
1,165 words, 12/20/11

Ed Gonzalez, Slant: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg)
"The film's elegant moroseness, like the propulsive, sometimes discordant, volume of Trent Rezor and Atticus Ross's experimental score, seems intended to distract us from the fact that these two characters are banal stock types." (Read the full review...)
978 words, 12/13/11

Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg)
"If you've seen the Swedish adaptation, this one's superfluous. But if you're like the majority of North Americans and have a hate-on for subtitles - Hollywood firmly believes that means most of you - go for it." (Read the full review...)
441 words, 12/15/11

Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: EXCELLENT (cg)
"...a sleek, supercharged version of a pulpy best-seller, but doesn't transcend its genre the way films like 'Psycho' or 'The Silence of the Lambs' did." (Read the full review...)
726 words, 12/20/11

MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg)
"If you enjoyed Oplev's original -- as I did, very much -- you may well be bored by Fincher's, and worse, mystified..." (Read the full review...)
937 words, 12/19/11
HIGHBROW PRESS (7 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: GOOD
"...has much to recommend it -- high-end craftsmanship, a singular heroine, a labyrinthine mystery, an intriguing milieu -- yet lacks a vital spark." (Read the full review...)
494 words, 12/23/11

A.O. Scott, New York Times: VERY GOOD
"...manages to hold onto the vivid and passionate essence of the book while remaining true enough to its busy plot to prevent literal-minded readers from rioting." (Read the full review...)
1,080 words, 12/20/11

David Denby, New Yorker: OUTSTANDING
"You can't take your eyes off Rooney Mara as the notorious Lisbeth Salander.... a bleak but mesmerizing piece of filmmaking; it offers a glancing, chilled view of a world in which brief moments of loyalty flicker between repeated acts of betrayal." (Read the full review...)
603 words, 12/05/11

Mark Jenkins, NPR: GOOD
"Mara and Craig embody their characters with assurance and precision, but they -- like they movie they're in -- are a bit too cold, a little too clean." (Read the full review...)
589 words, 12/20/11

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE
"Salander as a twitchy, anorexic waif feels more like a stunt than a complete character, and so the best part of the reason we care enough to endure all that mayhem has gone away." (Read the full review...)
824 words, 12/20/11

Dana Stevens, Slate: MODERATE
"Fincher is a master of mood and atmosphere, but this chilly, efficient movie never transcends the shallowness of its source material." (Read the full review...)
991 words, 12/20/11

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: VERY GOOD
"...an ingenious and engrossing work of pop cinema.... an immersive and powerful thriller... It's mostly really good and then it wears out its welcome." (Read the full review...)
1,403 words, 12/20/11
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: VERY GOOD
"...fully retains author Stieg Larsson's thinly veiled indictment of corporate skulduggery, anti-Semitism, child abuse and, above all, unspeakably sadistic crimes against women..." (Read the full review...)
1,353 words, 12/13/11

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD
"...it's Rooney Mara's movie for the taking, and she snatches it up in dramatic fashion.... [but] the film is too neatly wrapped up, too fastidious to get under your skin and stay there." (Read the full review...)
1,356 words, 12/13/11

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE
"Salander as a twitchy, anorexic waif feels more like a stunt than a complete character, and so the best part of the reason we care enough to endure all that mayhem has gone away." (Read the full review...)
824 words, 12/20/11

Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: OUTSTANDING (cg)
"...finds David Fincher at the top of his form, reaffirming his status as the most inventive and brilliant American director working in Hollywood today." (Read the full review...)
1,078 words, 12/15/11

A.O. Scott, New York Times: VERY GOOD
"...manages to hold onto the vivid and passionate essence of the book while remaining true enough to its busy plot to prevent literal-minded readers from rioting." (Read the full review...)
1,080 words, 12/20/11

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: GOOD
"...has much to recommend it -- high-end craftsmanship, a singular heroine, a labyrinthine mystery, an intriguing milieu -- yet lacks a vital spark." (Read the full review...)
494 words, 12/23/11
(cg) = based on the critic's grade

Review Mixture
17.8 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews
(Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's reviews are separated by an average 17.8 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
(51 reviews)
Roll over dots for each review
Broad National   Alternative/Indie   Highbrow Press   Key Cities
NY, LA, Chicago, & Toronto Movie Industry  
Outstanding
Very Good
Good
Moderate
Weak
Poor
Reviews
Outstanding
Very Good
Good
Moderate
Weak
Poor
Reviews
Big
Publications
>Bigger
Publications
>Biggest
Publications
Coverage, Volume & Length

Coverage: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's reviews cover 100.0% of potential readers (average is 68.2%). Volume: The film's reviews total 38,662 words in volume (average is 19,979 words). Length: The film's reviews average 758 words in length (the norm is 512 words).

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Coverage, Volume & Length
(51 Reviews,  reviews below)
TotalBroad
National
Press
Local
News-
papers
Alter–
native/
Indie
High-
Brow
Press
Movie
Industry
NY/LA
Chicago
Toronto
Key
Cities
Total
B.O.
Coverage:
Volume:
Length:
100.0%
38,662
758
100.0%
8,101
810
100.0%
15,996
695
100.0%
6,905
691
100.0%
5,984
855
100.0%
6,185
1,031
100.0%
9,625
688
100.0%
8,691
669
$102.5M
Averages: 68.2%
19,979
512
66.7%
3,178
451
80.2%
10,677
521
80.8%
3,310
430
58.7%
2,374
630
85.2%
3,407
685
83.7%
5,861
500
73.0%
2,885
539
Opening Day Reviews
Reviews Broke 5.0 Hours After Release (Norm is 0.2 Release)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's reviews on average broke 5.0 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 0.2 hours after. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
(51 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
M O R E    P O S I T I V E    R E V I E W S
E
A
R
L
I
E
R
L
A
T
E
R
M O R E    N E G A T I V E    R E V I E W S
Movie Review Intelligence Mobile Web App 1.0
Updated: Sat, Apr 7 2012, 01:26pm
Digg This StumbleUpon del.icio.us Twitter Share on Facebook
 | E-Mail to a Friend  | Print 


Mobile Web App version 1.0 shows a list of all current movies and review information. You can click through to the cast, director, synopsis, release date and rating on page two, plus individual reviews on page three. The information is updated on a live/real-time basis. You can also search our database of films. Designed for when you're on the move and want the latest info, this app will work on any mobile web browser.

From your mobile device -- only from a mobile device -- open our Mobile Web App here...





A


 

 

 

get one email
Update
every Friday when
the reviews are in
GO
Ongoing Wide
  Releases
(Limiteds Below)
Ongoing Limited
  Releases
(Wides Above)