And now for some thoughts and questions that came up while I was watching the trailer:
1. This trailer is ridiculously fast-paced. Should we expect that from the actual film?
At the end of the day, this is just a teaser trailer, and it should be taken as such. It's purpose is to give us a taste as to what we might see in the film, so I'm not sure whether we should take any of the pacing style here and assume it will convey to the actual feature film. I personally thought that the original Swedish film was a little on the slow side, but that ultimately worked towards its advantage. The plot was so intricate that it almost needed to be a little bit slow in order for it to be understandable. This American remake, however, has David Fincher at the helm. He's known for creating some fast-paced flicks (i.e., 1999's Fight Club; 2010's The Social Network), but he's also shown he can slow it down (i.e., 2008's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Despite the blinding speeds shown in this teaser, I think the final product will end up being a little bit slower. However, if it does maintain a fast pace, I couldn't think of a director other than Fincher that I'd rather have handling it.
2. What's the storyline of the film?
There really isn't much in this teaser to get people interested in any semblance of a story. I think that this particular trailer works more as a means to grab the attention of people who may already be fans of the novels or the original Swedish films. Everything moves so quickly that it's almost impossible to understand anything that's going on if you don't have prior knowledge of the story. Still, the fast pace could draw some into the trailer in the hopes that they'll be receiving
an action thriller come December. The trailer just doesn't give much in terms of guessing what might happen in the film. If you already know the story, then you're one step ahead.
3. Since we're not getting any clues to the storyline, what can we get from the trailer?
Because we're simply given a string of flashing scenes for nearly one hundred seconds, I think the thing that most viewers will take away are the actors featured within the trailer. For those of you paying attention, you'll be happy to find the following actors and actresses who will be holding important roles within the film: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Robin Wright, Embeth Davidtz and Joely Richardson. It's a pretty legitimate cast list, if I do say so myself. Will they be able to hold up to the Swedish original? We'll have to wait and see.
4. Who covered "Immigrant Song" for the trailer?
I'm not quite sure as to the reasons behind using Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" in this teaser trailer, but I can say that I'm thoroughly impressed with the rendition offered by Academy Award-winner Trent Reznor and Karen O. It adds to the overall pace of the trailer, and it gives us a little taste of what we might be hearing once the final product hits theaters. Reznor is helming the score, of course.
5. "The feel bad movie of Christmas?"
Having seen the original film, I'd have to say that this might be the perfect tagline moving forward. I don't want to get into too many specifics about the storyline for fear of ruining it for those of you who may not know the story already, but it's definitely a visceral experience that's going to leave you wondering just how to feel.
Overall, I'd say I'm pretty excited about the potential for this particular remake. Having been a fan of the original film, I'd have to say that I do have rather lofty expectations. However, with the direction of Fincher and the look of this trailer, I feel a lot more confident in my overall judgment.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will hit theaters in the U.S. on December 21, 2011.
1. This trailer is ridiculously fast-paced. Should we expect that from the actual film?
At the end of the day, this is just a teaser trailer, and it should be taken as such. It's purpose is to give us a taste as to what we might see in the film, so I'm not sure whether we should take any of the pacing style here and assume it will convey to the actual feature film. I personally thought that the original Swedish film was a little on the slow side, but that ultimately worked towards its advantage. The plot was so intricate that it almost needed to be a little bit slow in order for it to be understandable. This American remake, however, has David Fincher at the helm. He's known for creating some fast-paced flicks (i.e., 1999's Fight Club; 2010's The Social Network), but he's also shown he can slow it down (i.e., 2008's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Despite the blinding speeds shown in this teaser, I think the final product will end up being a little bit slower. However, if it does maintain a fast pace, I couldn't think of a director other than Fincher that I'd rather have handling it.
2. What's the storyline of the film?
There really isn't much in this teaser to get people interested in any semblance of a story. I think that this particular trailer works more as a means to grab the attention of people who may already be fans of the novels or the original Swedish films. Everything moves so quickly that it's almost impossible to understand anything that's going on if you don't have prior knowledge of the story. Still, the fast pace could draw some into the trailer in the hopes that they'll be receiving
an action thriller come December. The trailer just doesn't give much in terms of guessing what might happen in the film. If you already know the story, then you're one step ahead.3. Since we're not getting any clues to the storyline, what can we get from the trailer?
Because we're simply given a string of flashing scenes for nearly one hundred seconds, I think the thing that most viewers will take away are the actors featured within the trailer. For those of you paying attention, you'll be happy to find the following actors and actresses who will be holding important roles within the film: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Robin Wright, Embeth Davidtz and Joely Richardson. It's a pretty legitimate cast list, if I do say so myself. Will they be able to hold up to the Swedish original? We'll have to wait and see.
4. Who covered "Immigrant Song" for the trailer?
I'm not quite sure as to the reasons behind using Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" in this teaser trailer, but I can say that I'm thoroughly impressed with the rendition offered by Academy Award-winner Trent Reznor and Karen O. It adds to the overall pace of the trailer, and it gives us a little taste of what we might be hearing once the final product hits theaters. Reznor is helming the score, of course.
5. "The feel bad movie of Christmas?"
Having seen the original film, I'd have to say that this might be the perfect tagline moving forward. I don't want to get into too many specifics about the storyline for fear of ruining it for those of you who may not know the story already, but it's definitely a visceral experience that's going to leave you wondering just how to feel.
Overall, I'd say I'm pretty excited about the potential for this particular remake. Having been a fan of the original film, I'd have to say that I do have rather lofty expectations. However, with the direction of Fincher and the look of this trailer, I feel a lot more confident in my overall judgment.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will hit theaters in the U.S. on December 21, 2011.
1. Män som hatar kvinnor translates into "Men Who Hate Women". I suspect the English title was to tone it down, unfortunately. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is entirely a different title.
ReplyDelete2. The Immigrant Song is about Vikings, so that's probably the reason.
I watched the Sweedish movie on the heels of reading the book, and loved it. It was surely different from the book, but needed to be so it wasn't a 6 hour movie. For a good portion of the book, not a lot really happens apart from Mikail doing research and stuff like that. Part of the beauty of it, really. I think Hollywood is going to screw this up bad and the final movie will be only a shell of the book, especially considering some of the subject matter of the book.
Nice breakdown though. :)