The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo currently beats Panic Room 59–41

The Verdict Director's Cut

Rooney Mara's physical transformation — the piercings, the posture, the way she occupies a frame like she's evaluating the fastest route to the exit — gives Dragon Tattoo a central performance that Panic Room's more conventional thriller structure can't match. Foster is excellent within her genre's constraints. Mara is extraordinary beyond hers. Fincher gives both actresses rooms to dominate, but Mara's rooms are larger and the domination is more complete. The lead says the more transformative performance outperforms the more contained one when both are directed by the same filmmaker. Mara's Salander is the more dangerous presence. Foster's Meg is the more competent one. Danger wins.