Review by Dan Taylor
HANNIBAL
is the third film featuring the character
of Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter,
and the first to release him from his cage.
Michael Mann's superb MANHUNTER
(recently released on a new DVD) saw Bryan
Cox as the murderous psychiatrist who played
mind games with tortured FBI agent Will
Graham (William Petersen of TV's hit "CSI").
Of course, we all know about SILENCE OF
THE LAMBS, and how director Jonathan Demme
and stars Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins
rode their juicy roles to boffo box office
and Oscar glory.
But with Hannibal out an about,
Foster replaced by the sumptuous Julianne
Moore, and red hot Ridley Scott (GLADIATOR)
behind the camera, who knew what the resulting
film would be like. Well, in an attempt
to shut out some personal trauma of my own
I decided to take in a Sunday matinee and
see what the good doctor was up to. As Lecter
would say in the latest movie catchphrase
headed for pop culture overkill, "Goody,
goody."
Unfortunately, HANNIBAL can't
hold a candle to either of its predecessors,
partly because Lecter outside his cage isn't
as scary as Lecter inside his cage. We miss
his cat-and-mouse games with Will Graham
and Clarice Starling. We miss that pulse-quickening
sense of not knowing what's going to come
next from this sly, seductive madman with
manners.
HANNIBAL picks up a decade
after SILENCE's ending – which saw
Lecter free after brutally killing three
guards – and has its hands full right
from the get-go by attempting to juggle
three, or is it four, storylines. Frankly,
I had trouble keeping up.
Starling (now played by the
sultry Moore instead of the frumpy Foster
in a bit of bravo casting) is still known
as the agent that Lecter gave information
to, and she's still having trouble getting
the men in her life to give her her due.
Except for Lecter, of course, who still
follows her career from across the pond
and even drops her a quill-and-ink mash
note (complete with nudie drawing!) to set
the game afoot. Then there's Mason Verger
(an uncredited Gary Oldman under mounds
of makeup), a disfigured billionaire and
Lecter victim who's playing his own game
of cat-and-mouse using Starling as the bait
to lure Lecter and a Justice Department
superior (the always sleazy Ray Liotta)
as a conduit. Oh, and who can forget the
money-hungry Italian detective out to capture
Lecter for the heady reward being offered
by Verger, not out of any sense of justice.
Hell, with guys like this
around her, it's no wonder Starling once
again falls under Lecter's spell the minute
his fragranced note lands in her lap. Then
again, he did pick out the hand lotion just
for her. How considerate.
Once the game's afoot, we
jump from DC to Florence to Sardinia, back
to DC, back to Florence, and so forth until
the over-the-top last half hour which pushes
the Outrageous Meter way into the red with
such plot devices as man-eating boars, a
very "intellectual" meal, and
Lecter's opportunity to place a big, wet
kiss on the object of his affection. Not
to mention the snarky, winking finale.
It's too bad that the script
by David Mamet and Steve Zaillian (which
does improve on the source novel's zany
ending) reduces the superior intellect of
Lecter to a razor-wielding killer who feels
the need to spout witticisms as he does
in his victims. What is this, a tedious
ELM STREET entry?
And for those critics and
pundits who have lashed out at the flick's
alleged gore quotient, go rent some real
hardcore gore before you get all worked
up. HANNIBAL isn't a total disappointment,
but it wont't hold up to repeat viewings
like MANHUNTER and SILENCE.
