The Adventures of Tintin

Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, arguably two of the biggest filmmakers of our time, have combined to produce an animated version of the classic comics series Tintin. The film stars Jamie Bell, who voices the titular character, Tintin, who buys a wooden ship, only to become embroiled in an adventure wherein he is attempting to solve a generations old mystery. Tintin is chasing down Rackham, who has stolen a piece of information from him, a clue to the mystery. He ends up on the boat of Captain Haddock, who is being held captive on his own ship by Rackham. Haddock and Tintin team up for some Indiana Jones style action, and take us along for the ride.

I loved this film. It really reminded me of seeing films like Indiana Jones when I was a kid. It was a fun adventure with universal themes, and the animation and voice acting were top notch. You can't expect much else from Spielberg, I suppose. The guy is a master at what he does.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson's international best seller, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and the two books that followed it have all already been adapted, successfully, into Swedish films. It was a little confusing to me when David Fincher signed on to make this, because I never pictured him as the kind of director who would do an American re-make of something. He just always struck me as the kind of guy who would want full ownership of the visuals of his films, and not want them to have to be compared to a previous version of the same thing. His vision, though, as slowly revealed in various trailers, seemed to be an interesting, but somewhat straight forward, take on a film that already exists.

Dragon Tattoo focuses on Mikael Blomkvist, played by Daniel Craig. Blomkvist is a recently disgraced journalist who is hired by an elderly billionaire to solve a forty plus year old crime, the murder of his niece. Realizing that he is in, somewhat, over his head, he approaches the private investigator who dug up dirt on him during his trial, a troubled girl/cyber genius named Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). Together, they fight to solve the crime, while various forces try to make sure they don't.

I enjoyed Dragon Tattoo. It's a really good story, and Fincher tells it on an epic scale. At, almost, three hours long, it was rare that I ever turned away from it. It felt like it was consistently moving forward, and while it may have slowed down, it never stopped. That being said, though, I feel like this was a great film, but not a great Fincher film. I feel like the name Fincher brings a certain amount of expectation with it, and there was no delivery on that. It felt like anyone could have made this film (although, I don't think anyone else could have made it quite as well).

The film can be quite graphic, at times, which is not too much of a surprise for a Fincher film, but some people may be put off by it. There are instances, though, where it felt like Lisbeth's story seemed a little overly heavy. A little research shows that Larsson was heavily influenced by witnessing a rape as a young child, though, so, it becomes a little more clear as to why the source material goes as far as it does. Perhaps Larsson was giving this girl a chance at revenge that she never had in real life.

Quantum of Solace

It's really late by this point. Quantum of Solace has already been out for a month or so, but I thought I'd chime in anyway. In the newest installment of the Daniel Craig series of Bond films, Bond is still pissed off about the death of the woman he loved, Vesper, at the hands of a mysterious enemy. The film opens with a daring car chase, which we learn, is Bond getting away from henchman of this organization, while he holds captive (in his trunk) one of the top ranking officials of said super secret organization. What ensues, throughout the film, is a cat and mouse game, with Bond trying to expose the inner workings of the people who killed his woman and have been pulling strings all around the world to get their way.

I enjoyed Quantum of Solace a lot, but, ultimately, I liked Casino Royale a lot better. It felt like a much more well rounded film, where as Quantum of Solace felt like a Bond film that had been written for Charles Bronson. It felt like it could have been a Bond version of Death Wish. The action sequences were really incredible, but, sometimes it felt like they were trying to shove a little bit too much of it in there. The Bond girls, Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko, were tight, but... they were a little one sided. The best Bond girls have been relatively three dimensional, and a little more developed. It's all a little disappointing, because Marc Forster is truly one of my favorite directors of this generation. I think the man is talented beyond belief, but... Quantum of Solace just didn't do it for me the way I was hoping it would. It's a great film, but their are other Bond's that were better.