---
title: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
year: 2011
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo"
fi1m_id: "the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo"
imdb_id: "tt1568346"
tmdb_id: 65754
wikidata_id: "Q474093"
fi1m_score: 74
critics_score: 67
critics_reviews: 27
published: "2026-09-27T08:10:39.224606+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-27T08:10:40.619489+00:00"
region: "MX"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Directed by David Fincher · 2h 38m · RTC B-15 · Thriller, Crime, Mystery

## Identity

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo
- **IMDb ID:** tt1568346
- **TMDB ID:** 65754
- **Wikidata ID:** Q474093
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568346/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/65754, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q474093

**Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 67 from 27 reviews

*In a sentence:* Craig squints at forty-year-old photographs while Mara does the actual work, and somehow it grips

> Fincher’s version of Stieg Larsson’s thriller is cold, expert and for two hours properly gripping, with Rooney Mara giving it a centre. The mystery is routine and the film runs on for a good twenty-five minutes after solving it.

## Synopsis

Stockholm, and a snowbound island in the north of Sweden. Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), a journalist at the magazine Millennium, has just lost a libel case against the industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström (Ulf Friberg), and his reputation with it. Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), the ageing head of a family firm, hires him to find out what happened to his niece Harriet, who vanished from the family’s island forty years ago; every birthday since, someone has sent Henrik a pressed flower. Blomkvist moves into a draughty cottage on the island among the Vangers, including the courteous Martin (Stellan Skarsgård). Meanwhile Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a pierced, near-silent researcher at a security firm, is a ward of the state whose new guardian, Nils Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen), controls her money.

## Review

David Fincher’s version of Stieg Larsson’s novel arrives two years after the Swedish one, and the obvious question is why. The answer, for the first two hours, is that Fincher does this better than almost anyone. Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) loses a libel case, is hired by the old industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to find out what happened to a niece who vanished forty years ago, and goes north to a frozen island full of relatives who would rather he had not come. Steven Zaillian’s screenplay strips the book to that spine. What is left is a handsome, cold, mostly gripping 158 minutes with a routine mystery at its centre and an ending that will not sit down.

Rooney Mara is the reason to see it. Her Lisbeth Salander has bleached eyebrows, a ring through her lip and hair shaved at the sides, and she speaks as if every word costs her money. She does not look at people; she looks at their screens. Mara plays her as someone who decided long ago that nothing good arrives from other people, and we read a great deal into a face that gives almost nothing away. The scenes with her state-appointed guardian, Nils Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen), are the hardest in the film. We watched them with our stomach tight, and we were grateful that Fincher stages them as horror and not as spectacle. Van Wageningen plays Bjurman as a dull man in a cardigan, which is worse than a monster.

Jeff Cronenweth shoots Sweden in the blue-grey of a winter afternoon that never quite becomes day. Snow is white only in the distance; up close it is dirty and lit by sodium lamps. Donald Graham Burt puts Blomkvist in a guest cottage where he works in his coat, and puts Martin Vanger (Stellan Skarsgård) in a glass box of a house on the shore, all polished floors and nothing to hide behind. Trish Summerville dresses Salander in hoodies, black leather and a T-shirt with an obscenity on it, and dresses the Vangers in cashmere that has cost more than her flat.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross open with a thrash through Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” over titles of black oil and wires, then spend the rest of the film on drones and pianos that seem to be playing in another room. It works; the whole film hums with unease. Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall cut the two investigations against each other for the first hour, Blomkvist with his photographs and card index, Salander with her laptop, so that when the two finally meet it feels like two halves of one mind. Those stretches, of people reading and thinking, are the best-edited in the film.

The mystery itself is the weak part. It turns on a man enlarging old photographs and a woman searching databases, and each answer arrives on schedule with a small chime of recognition. Craig is fine, tired and decent, but he makes no attempt at an accent while everyone around him does, and the film never accounts for it. Plummer is warm and sly and Skarsgård is courteous. Robin Wright, as Blomkvist’s editor and lover Erika Berger, is given about six lines.

Then there is the ending. The film solves its central puzzle and then continues for something like twenty-five minutes, tying off the Wennerström business from the opening in a sequence of wigs, banks and airports. We looked at our watch, which we had not done once in the preceding two hours, and then we were irritated with the film for making us do it.

Fincher has done this before and done it better. [*Zodiac*](https://film.one/film/zodiac) (2007) was also about obsessives sifting old paper in bad light, and it was braver, because it admitted the answer might never come. This is still a well-made, unsettling evening, and Mara is worth it on her own; just do not expect the second half to match the first, and be aware the 18 certificate is earned. The story takes a turn we will not describe, but you will guess where it is going a good while before Blomkvist does.

*Fi1m score 74, published 27 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics lean positive, but only just, respecting the film more than loving it. The praise gathers in the same places: Rooney Mara’s Salander, which nearly every critic names as the film’s strongest element, and Fincher’s controlled, frosty visual style. Several single out Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for its steady dread, and a few credit the screenplay with tightening the novel’s sprawl. Her scenes with Daniel Craig are noted for their charge.

The reservations cluster around temperature. Critic after critic finds the film cold, its mystery conventional and neatly resolved, its closing stretch too long, and its existence hard to justify so soon after the Swedish version. The spread is wide: Digital Spy gives it full marks, while the Los Angeles Times and Eye for Film sit near the bottom. Kenneth Turan is the rare dissenter on Mara, calling her Salander a stunt rather than a character, and Vulture finds the performance merely functional.

## Straight answers

**Is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo worth watching?**

*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* is worth watching for anyone who likes a cold, expertly made crime thriller and can stand an 18 certificate, and we scored it 74. Rooney Mara's Lisbeth Salander is the reason to see it; the mystery itself is routine, and the film runs on for a good twenty-five minutes after solving it.

**How long is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and what is it rated?**

*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* runs 2h 38m and is rated B-15 by the RTC in Mexico. It is a thriller and crime film.

**Where can I watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Mexico?**

*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* is streaming on HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video in Mexico, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from MX$39.00. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* carries a UK 18 certificate and earns it, so it is not for children and we would not show it to younger teenagers. The scenes between Salander and her state-appointed guardian are the hardest to watch, staged as horror rather than spectacle, and the whole film hums with unease. The squeamish should think twice.

**How does The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo compare to Zodiac?**

*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* is the lesser of David Fincher's two films about obsessives sifting old paper in bad light; [*Zodiac*](https://film.one/film/zodiac) is the braver and the better. Both make patient investigation gripping, but *Zodiac* admits its answer might never come, while this one arrives on schedule and then keeps going. Choose this for Mara's performance, *Zodiac* for the mystery.

**Is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo based on a true story or a book?**

*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* is based on Stieg Larsson's novel of the same name, not on a true story. Steven Zaillian's screenplay strips the book to its spine, the search for a niece who vanished from a Swedish island forty years earlier. You do not need to have read it; the film explains itself, at some length.

**What should I watch after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?**

After *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*, try [*Zodiac*](https://film.one/film/zodiac) (2007, Fi1m 91): Fincher’s other film about people reading old paper in bad light, and the better one. Then [*Memories of Murder*](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder) (2003, Fi1m 91): Bong Joon-ho’s rain-soaked procedural about a case that will not close; and [*The Silence of the Lambs*](https://film.one/film/the-silence-of-the-lambs) (1991, Fi1m 91): The template for the young woman investigator and the monster who talks to her.

### Reviews we read (27)

- **Empire**, Damon Wise (85/100, inferred): Wise calls it an excellent, hard-edged thriller and a key work in Fincher’s career. He particularly praises Rooney Mara’s performance and the way the screenplay tightens the novel’s story. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/girl-dragon-tattoo-2-review/)
- **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (B+): Tobias finds the film visually accomplished but ultimately limited by its surface-level material. He praises Rooney Mara’s performance and the chemistry between her and Daniel Craig, while noting the film’s slow buildup and lengthy denouement. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-1798171039)
- **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (3/4/2): The review finds the film stylish but let down by the source novel’s questionable substance. It praises Rooney Mara’s transformation while criticizing the character’s vulnerability and the story’s voyeuristic, misogynistic undertones. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo)
- **Radio Times**, Lucy Barrick (4/5): Barrick finds that Fincher’s version feels fresh and surprising despite the familiar story. She particularly praises Rooney Mara’s portrayal of Lisbeth Salander. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-kgxou8/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/)
- **Sight and Sound**, Anton Bitel (80/100, inferred): The review finds Fincher’s remake a forceful improvement on the Swedish original and a finely honed thriller with political resonance. It praises the film’s kinetic style and Rooney Mara’s brittle, vulnerable Salander. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/reviews/releases/girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo.php)
- **IndieWire**, Todd Gilchrist (B): The critic finds the film beautifully executed and well acted, but ultimately emotionally disengaging and a lesser work in Fincher’s canon. He especially praises Rooney Mara’s controlled, compelling performance as Lisbeth Salander. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-david-finchers-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-is-an-intense-but-dispassionate-thriller-114032/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (3/4): Ebert finds the film grim but absorbing. He singles out Rooney Mara’s performance as a particular strength. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-2010)
- **Variety**, Justin Chang (75/100, inferred): Chang finds the film a fastidiously crafted, grimly entertaining adaptation, though its mystery ultimately settles for easy solutions. He singles out Rooney Mara’s riveting performance as the film’s most compelling strength. [Read](https://variety.com/2011/film/reviews/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-1117946739/)
- **The New Yorker** (70/100, inferred): The review is positive, emphasizing the film’s gripping momentum and Rooney Mara’s striking performance. It also singles out the expertly edited montages and notes that the brutal sexual scenes are staged for horror, not titillation. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-2)
- **Evening Standard** (65/100, inferred): The critic calls it a decent film but feels Fincher leaves some of his flair behind. Mara’s performance is praised for brilliantly matching Noomi Rapace’s Lisbeth. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-review-7428147.html)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (65/100, inferred): Bradshaw finds the film sleek and confident but chilly, with a strained mystery and an awkward ending. He singles out Rooney Mara’s forceful performance as the film’s driving strength. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/dec/22/girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-film-review)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (65/100, inferred): The review finds the adaptation absorbing and expertly made, but too conventional and neatly wrapped up to add much to the story. It singles out Rooney Mara’s commanding performance as Lisbeth Salander for particular praise. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/girl-dragon-tattoo-film-review-2-272649/)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (65/100, inferred): Edelstein finds Fincher’s remake more evocative than the earlier adaptation, though it adds little and Rooney Mara’s performance feels merely functional. He praises the film’s unsettling atmosphere, especially its score and Fincher’s clinical visual style. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2011/12/movie-review-finchers-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-brings-the-hate.html)
- **Screen Daily**, Tim Grierson (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a review, but its verdict is hidden behind the paywall. No specific praise or complaint is visible in the accessible text. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/5035418.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The review’s verdict cannot be verified because the page is blocked. Its specific praise or criticism is likewise unavailable. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/movies/the-girl-with-dragon-tattoo-movie-review.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (2.5/4): The critic finds Fincher’s adaptation handsome but ultimately retrograde and unable to elevate its source material. Rooney Mara’s portrayal is praised for conveying Lisbeth’s vulnerability beneath her deliberately alienating persona. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-5965/)
- **The Independent**, Anthony Quinn (**): Quinn finds the remake solemn, plodding and insufficiently justified so soon after the Swedish version. He praises Fincher’s visual style and use of snowbound locations, but complains that the mystery is uninvolving and overlong. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-david-fincher-156-mins-18-mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-133-mins-brad-bird-12a-6280578.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (30/100, inferred): Turan finds the film too emotionally cold to be effective. He praises the screenwriter’s skillful trimming of the novel but complains that Rooney Mara’s Salander feels more like a stunt than a fully realized character. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-dec-20-la-et-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-20111220-story.html)
- **Digital Spy**, Ben Rawson-Jones (5/5): The critic calls the film a scintillating masterpiece and finds its mystery gripping and satisfying. Rooney Mara’s performance as Lisbeth Salander is singled out for its truthful emotional range. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a355836/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-review/)
- **Paste**, Annlee Ellingson (8.6/10): Ellingson praises Fincher’s slick, atmospheric adaptation while noting that it will feel familiar to readers and viewers of the earlier version. Rooney Mara’s raw, physically and emotionally exposed performance as Lisbeth is singled out as a career-changing achievement. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo)
- **Den of Geek**, Simon Brew (4 out of 5): Brew praises the film as a mature, meticulously made and unusually unsettling thriller, though its mystery is conventional and the ending stretch drags. He singles out Rooney Mara’s performance and Fincher’s controlled, frosty visual style for particular praise. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-review/)
- **NME**, Owen Nicholls (70/100, inferred): The critic calls the film very good, though not quite a classic. Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig’s performances are singled out, especially their electric chemistry when sharing the screen. [Read](https://www.nme.com/blogs/the-movies-blog/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-film-review-781312)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (C+): The critic calls it Fincher’s weakest crime thriller, faulting its weak structure and bland narrative. He praises Rooney Mara’s commanding performance and the bleak, haunting score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. [Read](https://collider.com/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-review/)
- **/Film**, Russ Fischer (6 out of 10): Fischer finds the film technically proficient but ultimately a routine, bloodless thriller that fails to make its characters’ pain resonate. He singles out Rooney Mara’s controlled, arresting performance as Lisbeth Salander as the film’s strongest element. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/518773/girl-with-dragon-tattoo-review/)
- **The Playlist** (50/100, inferred): The review characterizes the film as an intense but dispassionate thriller. Its headline singles out intensity while faulting its emotional distance. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-david-finchers-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-is-an-intense-but-dispassionate-thriller-20111213/)
- **The Wrap**, Alonso Duralde (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the film engaging but overly familiar, with significant flaws in its leads and ending. He praises the crisp cinematography and the score’s sustained atmosphere of dread. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/very-familiar-dragon-tattoo-33585/)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (30/100, inferred): Kermode finds the film disappointing and ultimately uninteresting despite its talented team. She praises Rooney Mara’s performance, while criticizing the adaptation’s confusing structure and uneven pacing. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-2011-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)

## Details

- **Director:** David Fincher
- **Director:** David Fincher
- **Screenplay:** Steven Zaillian
- **Novel:** Stieg Larsson
- **Cinematography:** Jeff Cronenweth
- **Editor:** Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
- **Music:** Atticus Ross, Trent Reznor
- **Production design:** Donald Graham Burt
- **Costume design:** Trish Summerville
- **Producer:** Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin, Søren Stærmose
- **Cast:** Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist; Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander; Christopher Plummer as Henrik Vanger; Stellan Skarsgård as Martin Vanger; Robin Wright as Erika Berger; Yorick van Wageningen as Nils Bjurman; Steven Berkoff as Dirch Frode; Joely Richardson as Anita Vanger
- **Runtime:** 2h 38m
- **Certificate (RTC):** B-15
- **Release (Mexico):** 20 January 2012
- **Genres:** Thriller, Crime, Mystery
- **Budget:** $90 million
- **Box office:** $233 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svucpVzRBD4

## Where to watch in Mexico

- HBO Max: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- Amazon Prime Video: rent MX$39.00, hd
- Apple TV: rent MX$50.00, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy MX$99.00, hd
- Apple TV: buy MX$129.00, sd

*Checked 2026-09-27.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2012: Best Actress (nominated); Best Cinematography (nominated); Best Sound (nominated); Best Sound Editing (nominated); Best Film Editing (won)

## If you liked this

- *Zodiac* (2007), Fi1m 91: Fincher’s other film about people reading old paper in bad light, and the better one — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/zodiac.md)
- *Insomnia* (1997): Norwegian original with Stellan Skarsgård as a detective coming apart under a sun that never sets
- *Memories of Murder* (2003), Fi1m 91: Bong Joon-ho’s rain-soaked procedural about a case that will not close — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder.md)
- *The Silence of the Lambs* (1991), Fi1m 91: The template for the young woman investigator and the monster who talks to her — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-silence-of-the-lambs.md)
- *The Vanishing* (1988), Fi1m 88: Dutch thriller about a disappearance, told calmly, with the most horrible ending in the genre — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-vanishing.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo