While he will now forever be known as James Bond (though he might be able to step out of that shadow — something he’s longed for — when the new 007 is finally announced), Daniel Craig is far more than just the iconic superspy. And one of his furthest roles from that of Bond, James Bond is now streaming on 
Netflix, with Craig finding himself at the center of danger and conspiracy…but lacking any of the fist-throwing skills to handle it.
Evil Shall With Evil Be Expelled
Slotting between 2008’s Quantum of Solace and 2012’s Skyfall, Daniel Craig took another iconic literary role in 2011’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which removes Craig’s tux and guns and instead puts him in spectacles, a cardigan, and an “everyman” role.
Based on the 2005 novel of the same name by the late, great Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo drops Craig into the middle of an intensely bleak neo-noir thriller helmed by one of the masters of intensely bleak neo-noir thrillers: David Fincher. Led by Daniel Craig as journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, who is nothing less than one of the most iconic and compelling characters in modern fiction, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows Blomkvist, a disgraced financial reporter, who finds a chance at redemption when he’s tasked with solving the 40-year-old disappearance of Harriet, the niece of wealthy Swedish industrialist Henrik Vanger, who believes she was murdered by a member of his own family.
Recruiting the enigmatic-yet-ingenious hacker Lisbeth Salander in his investigation, the pair find themselves digging deeper and deeper into the pitch-black filth that surrounds the Vanger family as they uncover conspiracy and violence the likes of which Blomkvist could never have imagined.
‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ Is One of Daniel Craig’s Highest-Rated Movies
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of the highest-rated movies in Daniel Craig’s repertoire, achieving the rare success of bringing critics and audiences together with a shared score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Hailed as “brutal yet captivating” by director David Fincher “at his lurid best,” and with praise heaped on Rooney Mara’s performance, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo saw huge success at the box office and grossed $233 million against a $90 million budget.
Following such universal triumph, and with several Academy Award nods and wins thrown in for good measure, you would think that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would have quickly sparked sequels based on Larsson’s two follow-up novels. Alas, despite Fincher working hard on trying to film both The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest back-to-back, it was not meant to be. But while we may never get to see what Fincher’s franchise could have been (though all three films have been adapted expertly in Larsson’s native Sweden), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is well worth watching and will have you feeling as impressed with the cinematic accomplishment as you do dirty from what you’ve witnessed.
For those interested in heading back into the shadows with Lisbeth Salander, a soft reboot and sequel, The Girl in the Spider’s Web starring Claire Foy as the character, was released in 2018, and a series centered on Salander is now in the works.
- Release Date
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December 21, 2011
- Runtime
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158 minutes
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