At The Cinema At Gloucester Guildhall this week: Get Under The Skin Of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'

With January now behind us, The Cinema at Glouester Guildhall looks to February, which features a stellar line-up of films including three of the big heavyweight contenders at this year's award ceremonies. With both the BAFTAs and the Oscars this month, there's no better place to experience the likes of The Iron Lady, War Horse and The Artist than in the comfort of The Cinema at Gloucester Guildhall.

We begin February however with the latest incarnation of Swedish author Stieg Larsson's thrilling and best-selling Millenium Trilogy in the form of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo- an English language version of the first installment in the series (continuing with The Girl Who Played With Fire and concluding with The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest). Selling more than 50 million copies in 46 countries, the series was originally produced for the screen in the author's native country and language back in 2009 and made a star out of Noomi Rapace (now currently in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows). This Hollywood reinterpretation, part of a planned three-picture deal with Sony Pictures, has been adapted by renowned Oscar-winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian (Schindler's List, Gangs Of New York, Moneyball) and features an all star cast including Daniel Craig (the current James Bond) and Rooney Mara (The Social Network) under the direction of the legendary David Fincher whose credits include The Social Network, Seven, Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

Neil Blomkvist (Craig) is a disgraced political journalist having just lost a ruinous libel case to a famous businessman. Unsure of his career direction, as well as his marriage and family, he is called upon by an ageing rich industrialist named Henrik Vagner (the Oscar nominated Christopher Plummer). Employing Blomkvist to assist with the writing of his memoirs, the job quickly turns into a crime investigation as it seems Vagner is more concerned with finding the murderer of his favourite great-niece, who disappeared from the family island in the summer of 1956. The mystery soon gets the attention of computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Mara) who performed a background check on Blomkvist as a preliminary to his hiring. The pair team up to lead the investigation where they find themselves pursuing several serial killers. The question is, could the killer be closer than they think?

Whilst it's fair to say that the original Swedish language version holds a special place in people's hearts and minds (especially those who regularly visit The Cinema at Gloucester Guildhall, where the original films did very well) this film shouldn't be dismissed as a vacuous commercialised Hollywood remake and it certainly doesn't do any disservice to either the novels or the original films. It provides a new interpretation to the story that is brutal but nevertheless captivating, with Fincher working at his lurid best along with a committed performance form Rooney Mara, which has earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. It also goes without saying that it features a killer soundtrack by regular Fincher collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, including a brilliant cover version of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song playing over the opening titles sequence that is worth the admission price alone.

With the second and third parts now in the works, and with both Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara signed up to star, there is no better way to introduce yourself to the Millenium Trilogy than at The Cinema at Gloucester Guildhall.

Check out the trailer below:

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (18) runs from Friday 3rd - Thursday 9th February.