Hannibal
There was something about this movie that left a bad taste in my mouth...so to speak.
It was rather distasteful.
Much has been made about Jodie Foster not repeating her role as Clarice Starling.
I think it was a wise decision. Julianne Moore did a good job of taking over...
but the film itself had problems.
You might remember another film with these characters Silence of the Lambs. Of course
if you're a real film buff you'd know that there was another film first...Manhunter
with Brian Cox as Lector. In Silence of the Lambs, Clarice went to Lector for help
in tracking down a serial killer. He helped her and then escaped.
In this film one of Lector's victim's tries to capture the Doctor. He finangles some
trouble for Clarice and then Lector arrives to help her. There are various scenes
involving cannibalism, disembowelment and flesh eating pigs...none of them very pretty.
While this movie is well crafted, it is without a heart. I didn't buy it for a second.
It wasn't necessary and didn't add anything to the characters of Clarice or Hannibal.
Performance wise it was fine, the aforementioned Julianne Moore did a nice job as
Clarice, Gary Oldman was almost unrecognizable as Mason Verger and Ray Liotta was
wonderfully slimy as Clarice's boss. However, Anthony Hopkins was a bit tired as
Hannibal. When you think about it, the character has become such a legend that there really
isn't much more that can be done with it. Despite saying that, a tired performance
from Anthony Hopkins is much better than a rested performance from many actors.
On a scale of one to five I give Hannibal ** out of five. See it at your peril.
Back to Main Movie Page
Back to Index Page
