Review of Hannibal Rising (2007) by Tim B — 14 Sep 2009

I consider myself a fan of the Hannibal series (exept for Red Dragon) and even though purists spit on this before it even came out, I still looked forward to it. Origin stories are usually hit or miss and although this one missed on the most part, I still had a blast with it.

First off, I could go to say other than slight references to the previous films, there isn't much about Hannibal or how he came to be what Anthony Hopkins portrayed him as. This is your basic vengeance flick.

If you know me, you know my odd thirst for a good vengeance flick. This one delivered on that front. They wronged the protagonist, the protagonist got pissed and cleaned house in an almost slasher sense.

I sided with Hannibal big time as he went after those Nazi bastards. He took them out with such originality and enthusiasm that I couldn't help but get involved and cheer watching him get his justice.

The kills were mean, violent and well done. The problem I found with this one was when there was anything else other than the initial storyline at play. The cops didn't interest me, the love story got no reaction from me and the whole "analysis of Hannibal" was for the birds.

Some of these stories went aboslutely nowhere and didn't even finish up. Some situations did get over the top and I had to stop thinking when it came to some scenarios. It did get insulting at points, though.

Gaspard Ulliel is no Anthony Hopkins, but he was intense, he was interesting and he got the job done. I applaud him for it. Rhys Ifans also displayed intesnity on screen as the villain and had me hating him big time.

Li Gong was adequate, but didn't bring much to the story. Peter Webber kept it stylish, suspenseful and gave some awesome shots. He also has an excellent handle on his settings and how to make it feel like WWII.

If you can forget the rest of the series for two hours, you'll be fine with this one. It tries to act smarter than it really is, but it still gets the job done as a vigilante flick. It's fast, easy and fun.