Review of Manhunter (1986) by Elliot N — 15 Nov 2010
Michael Man has always been a consummate master of the long take as evidenced by this early entry in his filmography. Unlke most directors of mainstream cinema, Mann has faith in his shots and a willingness to stick with them that hearkens back to the cinema of Tarkovsky and Ozu but transported into a modern crime thriller.
Consequently, Man creates stylish, psychological complex films that dwell upon their characters. Manhunter represents the earliest adaptation of Thomas Harris's series of novels featuring Hannibal Lecktor--this is the first screen version of Red Dragon.
If you are looking for a film like Silence of the Lambs or its subsequent sequels/prequels, then you might be disappointed in Manhunter. In Mann's film, the gore is extremely limited, there are no transvestite Ed Gein wannabes, no one is fed to pigs or skinned, etc.
But Manhunter does offer a profoundly complex psychological portrait of the intertwining relationship between serial killer and F.B.I. agent. The film delightfully plays with the similar thought patterns of the killer and his pursuer.
William Petersen turns in a powerfully subtle performance as a retired F.B.I. agent who returns to help capture the tooth fairy or the red dragon, whichever name you wish to call him. Brian Cox also delivers an unforgettable performance as Hannibal Lecktor--his portrayal is less overtly creepy than Anthony Hopkins' but is no less effect.
He brings a bug-eyed brilliance and psychotic enthusiasm to the character that works perfectly. The film also portrays psychosis in a more provocative way than Red Dragon or even Silence of the Lambs manages--as a process of becoming.
The Tooth Fairy's letters discuss his murders as being part of his becoming, and Hannibal Lecktor discusses how killing helps one to become like god. But, simultaneously, the film concerns the Graham's (William Petersen's) becoming-serial-killer.
Mann's film concerns a fundamental alteration of human psyche, a move from a state of normal being into one of radical becoming in which the subject begins to ascribe significations to objects that no one else would.
It is a powerful portrait of psychological transformation that rivals if not surpasses The Silence of the Lambs.
This review of Manhunter (1986) was written by Elliot N on 15 Nov 2010.
Manhunter has generally received positive reviews.
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