Hannibal (2001)

reviewed by
Christian Pyle


Hannibal
Reviewed by Christian Pyle
Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by David Mamet and Steven Zaillian (based on the novel by Thomas 
Harris)
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Giancarlo Giannini, Ray Liotta, and 
Gary Oldman
Grade: B

Some sequels rush into theaters before the end credits are through rolling on their predecessors. Others take a decade. But "Hannibal: The Phantom Menace" is finally here. Anthony Hopkins reprises his role from "Silence of the Lambs" as Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter. The doc is still on the loose following his magnificent jailbreak in "Silence." We find him in Florence, Italy, posing as a scholar.

Hopkins' co-star in "Silence," Jodie Foster, opted out of "Hannibal," so Julianne Moore takes over the role of feisty FBI agent Clarice Starling. Clarice's career has hit the skids after a controversial shooting of a drug dealer (Hazelle Goodman), and the Justice Department has sent dickhead Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) to hassle her. The Bureau reassigns Clarice to the Lecter case and sends her to interview Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), a hideously deformed but filthy rich former victim of Lecter. (Lecter convinced a drugged Verger to cut off his own face and feed it to dogs; Verger explains, "It seemed like a good idear at the time.") Verger has been trolling a $3 million reward for information leading to Lecter. He finally gets a nibble from cynical Florentine cop Rinaldo Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini), who is suspicious of the new scholar in town and is in need of a few million in ready cash. However, ol' Hannibal might have a trick or two in store for these fellas . . .

Knowing that "Silence" would be a hard act to follow, producer Dino De Laurentiis recruited a respected trio of talents to adapt Thomas Harris' latest thriller for the screen: director Ridley Scott, playwright David Mamet, and "Schindler's List" screenwriter Steven Zaillian. I read the novel when it came out last summer, and Mamet and Zaillian showed excellent taste in their choices. They trimmed the part of the book that dwells on Clarice's career problems in favor of the much stronger cat-and-mouse game between Lecter and Pazzi in Florence. (This is lots of fun in both book and movie because Pazzi thinks he's the cat, but we know he's the mouse.) The screenwriters also judiciously dumped the ridiculous ending of Harris' novel. However, the ending they chose instead seems so much of an anti-climax that the film might as well close with "To Be Continued . . ." Scott serves up a beautiful picture painted with somber but rich tones.

The centerpiece of "Hannibal" is, of course, Hopkin's performance. More than any other element, his personification of evil made "Silence" the critical and popular success that it was. (No other thriller, not even the masterpieces of Hitchcock, has ever swept the Academy Awards; no other thriller even won Best Picture.) However, Hopkin's take on Lecter has lost its edge. Ironically, Lecter radiated much more menace standing completely still in a glass cage in "Silence" than he does on the loose in "Hannibal." Hopkins seems to have forgotten some of the subtle touches he brought to the character ten years ago, such as the slight hiss on his S's.

The fatal flaw of "Hannibal," though, is the absence of Jodie Foster. She pulled out after the script had been revised to her specifications. It attempts to build on the psychosexual undertones in the exchanges between Foster and Hopkins in "Silence." However, all these efforts fall flat because of the recasting. Julianne Moore is an exceptional actress who has proven her talent in numerous films over the past few years. However, despite her best efforts to adopt the West Virginia accent and tough willfulness of Clarice Starling, Moore can only hope to echo Foster. When Foster left the project, the filmmakers should have delayed production and rewritten the script to eliminate Starling. The character is unimportant to the scenes in Florence and only tangential to the conflict between Lecter and Verger. That's the only Foster-less option that would have allowed "Hannibal" to fulfill its potential.

A bit of trivia: Besides Hopkins, the only cast member from "Silence" to return is Frankie Faison, who reprises his role as Barney, the orderly who tended to Lecter at the asylum. (What else could Scott Glenn possibly have had to do?) Faison also had a small role in 1986's "Manhunter," making him the only actor to appear in all three segments of the "Hannibal Lecter Trilogy."

Bottom Line: Beautifully rendered but doomed to fail

© 2001 Christian L. Pyle

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