Review of Hannibal (2001) by Spangle — 30 Jan 2014

Much, much more graphic than its predecessor, this follow-up to the classic (and my personal favorite film) The Silence of the Lambs is all kinds of disappointing. Beyond the fact that Jodie Foster is clearly not replaceable as Clarice Starling as the makers of this film believed, the excessive and gratuitous gore and horror elements that were not present in the prior film are ever present here and serve no purpose.

The great part about The Silence of the Lambs was how it could cover such horrific violence and spare you the viewing of it, but its description of it was good enough for you to get the full picture. Here, I do not know if it just lazy writing or what, but here, everything is shown in every gory detail.

In addition, another major issue is the lack of dialogue between Clarice and Hannibal. In the prior film, that was a major part of the story and what made the film so great. Here, however, that is simply not the case.

Finally, Clarice is not who she was in the first film. There was much more depth to her. Now, they seemingly made her a carboard cutout of a cop in film/television. There is no originality to her character, she no longer felt like a real person.

There are positives, though, that really help this film out. Firstly, Anthony Hopkins is phenomenal as expected. It is hard to imagine anyone else playing Hannibal Lecter for me, as he seems to capture the character so beautifully and really does a fantastic job.

In addition, Ridley Scott does a fine job in the director's chair and really helps boost this film up a bit. Finally, the suspense elements are good and help keep you interested and on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next.

Overall, a solid film, but as a follow up to a classic, it was always going to look bad, but I was still hoping for more.