This darker, slicker and more humane re-telling of Swedish crime thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo improves upon previous adaptations, thanks to David Fincher's vast skills as a master of dark suspense.

Even though it is an adaptation of a worldwide selling novel (which was already made into popular movie), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo feels like Fincher’s baby through and through with its sharp digital photography, atmospheric score (courtesy of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) and investigative procedural plotline sitting nicely with Fincher’s other crime movies Se7en and Zodiac. Call it a “trilogy of darkness” if you will.

An incredible opening credits sequence (that is worth the price of admission alone) sets the tone for the grizzly thrills to follow. Daniel Craig stars as Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist who’s found himself on the losing end of a libel case. Broke and with time on his hands, he takes on an assignment by wealthy patriarch Henrik Vagner (Christopher Plummer) to investigate the 40 year old disappearance of his grand-niece.

Assistance is given by Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a goth bisexual computer hacker with attitude to burn. She is the “girl with the dragon tattoo” of the title, whose emotional and physical wounds has created an insane heroine with freakish appearance.  

The casting of Craig and Mara in these roles is spot on. Craig espouses the moral firmness of his character and the stubborn determination which often lands him in tricky situations. Yet it is Mara who really impresses in her breakthrough role, building on her memorable performance in The Social Network while also separating her Lisbeth from the memorable take on the character by Noomi Rapace in the original Swedish films.

Unlike those films, Mikael and Lisbeth do feel like the dynamic duo they are meant to be with Craig and Mara creating good chemistry not only through sexual tension, but through touches of dry humour as well.

This is thanks to Steve Zaillian’s stellar adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s sprawling novel which brings the relationship between the two to the fore, while also creating a much tighter murder mystery that doesn’t get too bogged down in the lengthy family history of the Vagner clan. The political and social commentary of Larsson’s novels thankfully is also toned down.

While Fincher’s visual approach is flawless he does have trouble with certain aspects of the story, with the steady flow of new characters at times hard to keep up with. Its third act also feels rushed in its resolutions.  

What Fincher does do well is sell the darkness and dread which The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo inhabits without succumbing to a nihilistic worldview. He doesn’t ignore the tough violence which this world inhabits, with several scenes poised to make many look away. But he doesn’t revel in it either.

Fincher is too good a director to have shock value overwhelm this material. That on its own makes this Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a superior adaptation over others before it.