I analyse a film review of David Finchers 'The girl with the dragon tattoo'

1. The firstparagraph of the review givingabrief
synopsisof the filmgivinginformationaboutthe
twomain charactersand the actors cast intheir
roles.Below thisisastar rating of the film,
includingthisatthe start of the webpage givesthe
readera tone of the reviewer’s opiniononthe film
whichisimportantto know whenhearingthe
readercommentonthe film.
Mentioningone of the maincharactersitemsof
clothingtellsthe readeralotas the costume
representsthe characterina unique way.For
example thissortof t-shirtsuggests the character
isrebellious.
The review commentsonthe factthisbook has
alreadybeenmade intoafilmandthat people
thoughtthe filmshouldn’tbe remade becauseof
leadingactresses’performance beingnothing
special.
A reference ismade toa previousfilmdirectedby
legendarydirectorDavidFincherbeing‘The Social
Network’showingthe readerthe filmwilllikelybe
highqualitybecause of the directorsprevious
experience beingatestamentof hiscapability.
Finishingthe firstparagraphwithpraise
summarisesthe reviewer’sgeneral thoughtsonthe
film. Informingthe readerthatthe filmhasbeen
made before isimportantinformationbecause
theymay have seenthe original orreadthe novel
the filmisbasedon whichcouldmake themwant
to see the filmmore because the bookwaslargely
popular. The filmssub-genre isaddressedby
statingthe filmhasa ‘whodunnit’elementwhichis
informal butrelatable asreaderswill recognise
that structure,butsays the filmhandlesitsensibly
whichinformsthatitis a seriousandsuspenseful
tone and notcomedicor forced.

2. Actor’s portrayal of the characters is commented on saying
that Daniel Craigdoes a good job in his role.The filmreviewer
then points out an obvious flawwith the reality of the film
being that Craig’s character doesn’t have a Swedish accent
and all other characters do.This could be a small issuefor
some audiencemembers and a largeissuefor others that’s
why it’s a key feature of the filmto comment on in this
review. None the less the reviewer goes on to say the
character could easily beoverplayed but Craigdoes a good
job of not fallinginto the easy trap that many actors do, this
can completely take you out of a scene if the actingis
unrealistic.Givingcreditfor strongperformances in a review
is crucial becausethey are what make or break the film
essentially especially for actors in theleadingrole.
Avoidingcomparingto the original filmis a good decision
because not everyone readingthe review will haveseen it,
also as a reviewer they shouldn’tjudge a filmin comparison
to an existingproduct, itshould be viewed as its own as ithas
a different director, scriptand castso comparingitwouldn’t
be fair even though they are tellingthe same story.The
leadingactress of Rooney Mara is said to hold its own, and
said to be ‘childlikeand mercurial’statingthis rather than
commenting on whether it’s good or bad. The review goes on
to explain why the characters ageis withheld making events
seem more extreme becauseyou don’t have the confirmation
and warns readers of a graphic scenewith the use of brackets.
Personally I think this sceneshouldn’thave been addressed in
a review as I think itspoils theviewer experience because the
person will expectit, arguably anyonewho has seen the other
filmor read the book will knowbut regardless.
Referring to the filmas one of Fincher’s five finger exercises is
another example of the directors vastexperience this
paragraph beingpacked filmwith comparison to previous
work, name droppingpopular films of his highlightingwhat
they did well and what you could see elements of in this film.
The heroismof the leadingfemale character is well done, this
is an example of more powerful representations of women in
the media, and finishingthe paragraph by sayingthe filmhas
the brutality of seven. This method of tellingthe reader about
the filmis effective if all readers haveseen the director’s
previous films butif not then the comparisons could haveless
meaning.
The next paragraph begins with a question suggesting by this
point of the review the reader has this thought already. The
main flawthe critic points outis the filmsets up for a trilogy
sincethe ending was similar to the book, but if that trilogy is
not made the films endingscene is anti-climactic for a filmto
be so suspenseful throughout the payoff needs to be
something more. The layoutof choosingto add the negative
criticisms atthe end is an interesting approach becausethis
way you are focusingon the positives firstso thatthe reader
doesn’t get the wrong idea.The final sentence being a
summary of the directors take on the story. Finally the
reviewer says thatthis take on the story was the correct one
meaning he approves of the film.