Girls, This Dragon Breathes NO Fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having a Week Of Leisure can really get things done--books read, movies seen, blogs written; I am telling you, Retirement is tempting!!!!!!

On Tuesday, because I was meeting Monsieur later in the day, I needed a long movie to while away the time. It had been on my radar to see "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," which, at two hours and forty minutes, (can you believe it???? Four minutes longer than "The Song Of Bernadette," which is a REAL masterpiece, with a story to tell!!) I opted for an afternoon screening.

Let me say, if David Fincher had not directed this, I would never have gone near it!!! Fincher, who knows his serial killers, with the films "Seven" and the lengthy, though fast paced, "Zodiac",(with a honey of a cast--Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey, Jr.--yum!!!!!) offered hope for this film, which had been filmed two years before, in a Swedish version that was vastly superior to this!!!!!

What is frustrating is that all the right elements are in place. Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig are quite good in their roles, while Joely Richarson, Geraldine James and Steven Berkoff--good actors, all!--render excellent support. Plus another bravura performance from Christopher Plummer (who looks fantastic!!!!) And Stellan Skarsgard is on hand; though, the minute I saw his name in the cast, I KNEW he would be playing Martin Vanger. And, from his work here, frankly I thought he was doing better flashing his hot middle-aged butt and flirting with Julie Walters in "Mama Mia!!!"

But there is no doubt--the movie is well cast!!!!!

Even the few scenes with a shirtless Daniel Craig (would I forget my girls??), his pecs still firm and in place, come off as ho-hum!!!!!!

The problem is the script. It gets all the key elements in, but none of the juice!!!! I don't mean that it is sanitized; it really isn't, though you naturally do not see as much as in the Swedish film. Considering that NBC in prime time did an 'SVU' derivative of it, where the perp branded words on men's' chests, and these words were clearly shown, I don't see why the same could not be shown in this film. But even more, the suspense and pacing which made the book and first film so compelling you didn't want to leave for a second, has been dragged out, so that it becomes so tedious you just want to move from one plot point to the next. Girls, I sat through Abel Gance's 1927 epic, "Napoleon," and Erich Von Stroheim's "Greed," and I didn't feel their length nearly as much as I did here!!!!!! Which says something about how poorly made the film is. I heard audience members having read the book muttering their dissatisfaction on the way out!!!!! And from what I understand, the film is not doing too well at the box-office!!!! Not what was expected at all!!!!!!

Darlings, don't waste your time! This is one Tattoo that should be removed immediately!!!!!