New Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trailer Sets Mood & Promises Strong Performance from Rooney Mara

When Daniel Craig was cast as journalist Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, one could sense of how he'd play the role because we've seen lots of him in other films, the good (Casino Royale, Infamous, Munich) and the bad (Cowboys & Aliens, The Golden Compass, The Invasion). Similar feeling towards how this will be directed, under the guiding-hand of the great David Fincher. If you've read the novel or seen the 2009 Swedish film, you could already sense how he'd handle the material given his past association in the murder-mystery genre.

It's a different ball-game altogether for Rooney Mara as title character Lisbeth Salander. We've seen pictures of her in character, yes. But it's not the same as seeing her in motion as Salander. There's little to gage with how she'll do because we've seen so little of her. And what we've seen so far came last year in one of 2010's best films (The Social Network) where she was very good in what few scenes she was in and one of 2010's worst films (the Nightmare on Elm Street remake) where she was terrible in the lead.

So there's a lot of intrigue behind her given how far-and-wide the filmmakers looked for their Lisbeth and opted for the unknown Ms. Mara instead the bigger names who screen-tested. Some of that mystique is slowly getting chipped away as we near the film's Christmas release and more footage of her in character is being made readily available to the public. Such as the case with the second trailer just released.

Clocking in less than four minutes, it lays out the plot for those unfamiliar (As highly regarded as the afore-mentioned Swedish film is, not everyone has seen it and not everyone has the read the original Stieg Larsson-penned book as big a best-seller that it is) and, yes, lets us see and hear Mara as Salander interacting with her co-stars. But I'll shut up now and let you see for yourself.