Review of Hannibal Rising (2007) by Evan C — 02 Aug 2010

The Silence of the Lambs is my favorite movie so there's no way I could this one up. Is it another film masterpiece? No. Is it as good as Hannibal? No. Red Dragon? No. This was an over-budgeted attempt to milk the legend of Hannibal Lector.

I understand that this is the only Hannibal film that is not based off a book, but the story just seemed secondary to the high production atmosphere. The movie attempts to incorporate the origins of Hannibal¿s actions, beliefs, and mindset.

But it doesn't work. You get too distracted by the explosions (in a Hannibal film?), mindless killing that barely fits into the story, the extremely slow moving plot, and the mimicking of a WWII atmosphere.

In particular Hannibal¿s first murder had a terrible motive to it, and was just unnecessary. However, the worst thing about this movie is Hannibal Lector, and by that I mean Gaspard Ulliel. Who decided to cast the star of a bunch of French love stories? He doesn't even look like Anthony Hopkins or Brian Cox for that matter.

Maybe I'm just an Anthony Hopkins loyalist but he did not fit his character at all. The only good thing this movie has going for it is the aesthetics. I imagine this film had a large budget and the re-creation of the buildings and technology of the time were good looking.

Overall, if you¿re a fan of any of the Hannibal Lector films DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. The better thing to do would be to let the viewer make their own assumptions on to how Lector grew up. Remember this is completely independent from the books, and is a sad Hollywood attempt to create a movie that shouldn't have been made.