MANHUNTER (1986) Reviewed by Jerry Saravia October 10th, 2001
"Manhunter" is based on Thomas Harris's scary novel "Red Dragon," the first book to introduce Dr. Hannibal Lecter who later resurfaced in both "Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal." Though Michael Mann's film adaptation is not nearly as good as the novel, nor as good a film as "Silence of the Lambs," it is occasionally gripping, absorbing stuff.
This early film does not focus on Clarice Starling, the heroine of the later entries in the series. Instead, we have a male lead who has one or two screws loose thanks to his unnaturally intense study of how serial killers think. He is Will Graham (William Petersen) who has left the agency after being attacked by Lecter (this time played by Brian Cox) and had to be committed to a mental institution to recover. But the FBI Sector Chief Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina in this one, Scott Glenn in "Silence") wants Graham's extraordinary ability to be put to work on a new serial killer. Apparently, this one killer kills families in their homes in excruciatingly brutal ways. The FBI has no suspects and no leads but Graham might be able to find out who the killer is, branded by policemen as "The Tooth Fairy." And there might be clues related to the killer's dreams of being loved and an association with the poet/painter William Blake (dealt with more specificity in the novel).
Most of "Manhunter" is absorbing, particularly the scenes where Graham investigates the crime scenes where he notes details of the executions and the direction in which the blood was spilled (some of the family members were injured or harmed postmortem). Other scenes with Graham and his wife, Molly (Kim Greist), lack much thrust or purpose - the character of Molly is so underdeveloped that we forget he is even married to her. Other characters like Crawford drift in and out of focus, though Graham does have one or two finely written scenes with Crawford where he shows his level of attention at all the details. There is also a superb scene where Graham explains his past condition to his son at a supermarket - except for some cutaways of his son's reaction, the camera trains itself on Petersen and he is quite watchable.
Still, "Manhunter" feels oddly unmoving and closed-off, much like the main character. There is none of the richness or depth that the book provides. Its main killer maintains some interest but is saddled with just a shotgun at the end as the police circle his house - his creative desires and motives are scantly mentioned here. It is a Michael Mann picture alright, complete with an electronic score (some distracting songs by Iron Butterfly) and a shootout right out of his superior "Thief." If nothing else, it is often enticing enough but not at the level of the book or at the level of "Silence of the Lambs."
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