Hannibal a film review by Chad Polenz
WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Anthony Hopkins reprises his Oscar-winning role as Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lector in this sequel to "Silence of The Lambs" (which itself was a sequel to 1986's "Manhunter"). This time Hannibal is living free as an art historian in Italy while back in the U.S. one of his former patients and his sole-surviving victim is offering a large bounty for the capture of Hannibal. Julianne Moore plays FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling who has become extremely hard-edged and unemotional and follows the case while at the same time trying not to become a patsy to some of her superiors.
WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT:
The film has a strong first half setting up all the details of the complex story and interdependent plots and subplots. With four major characters with their own motivations and conflicts there's a lot to balance and director Ridley Scott manages to juggle the complicated screenplay rather well.... at first. Anthony Hopkins is again superb as the frightening psychopath, totally overshadowing and upstaging everything and everyone else.
WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD ABOUT IT:
Moore is waaaaaaay too stiff in her portrayal of Starling, who is so rigid she makes Dana Scully look like Krusty the Clown. And what's with the accent? It's a shame Jodie Foster turned down this role, she could have held her own, Moore is at the mercy of poorly-written dialogue and little characterization.
The story drops off sharply after the midway point so what was at first intense and intriguing becomes cliche and confusing. Having Hannibal on the loose is a good way to induce suspense, but he's actually too likable to be as menacing as he could and should be. In fact, throughout the last act when the tables turn he's practically the hero! The victim who's out to get him is just a bit too cliche to be taken seriously.
And the biggest flaw is this movie is just disgusting! The victim with no face is freaky, but the scene showing how he lost his face is pretty noxious. The notion of having man-eating boars as your killing device is pretty creepy and a bit unbelievable too (the second time this year this technique has been used - "Snatch" made it work a little better). The scene at the end will certainly go down in film history as one of the grossest scenes ever in a mainstream film (it involves amateur brain surgery).
OVERALL CRITIQUE:
As a thriller, "Hannibal" gets a passing grade, but I think this might actually be a horror movie. What made "Silence of the Lambs" so great was its balance of detective work and the psychological fear Hannibal Lector induced simply by looking at you and the fact he was incarcerated and could escape. Now that he's free he's almost rehabilitated himself until the bounty hunters come after him. It's quite clear what's going to happen to said hunters.
Bringing the story back to a Starling versus Lector conflict probably would have helped, throwing in this third storyline of the victim out for revenge is an interesting storyline but the screenplay doesn't make it work. I mean, how many times has the character of an eccentric rich guy been used before? I'd compared him to Mr. Burns on "The Simpsons," and could HE really frighten you?
Another draft of the screenplay and tighter direction would have made this a great movie, this is too mediocre for its own good.
RATING: **1/2 (out of 4 = ok/average)
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