Review of Red Dragon (2002) by Spangle — 13 Feb 2015

The Silence of the Lambs is my favorite film, so my expectations for Red Dragon were obviously quite high and I ultimately was left feeling satisfied, as this one is a worthy film successor to the previous film (which comes after it chronologically in terms of the books, but whatever) and is far better than the 2001 follow-up, Hannibal.

Edward Norton, Anthony Hopkins, and Harvey Keitel, are all very good, while Ralph Fiennes delivers an absolutely bone chilling performance as the "Tooth Fairy". Philip Seymour Hoffman is also good in a supporting role.

The direction from Brett Ratner is shockingly good. He did a great job creating scares and multiple scenes caused me to jump back a little bit, which is great. In addition, the script from Ted Tally is also very strong, not as good as the one who wrote for The Silence of the Lambs, but it worked very well.

At times, this one can feel a bit like a police procedural, but all the same, I really did like this one and loved the way it ended as well (the very, very end). Some things could have been better, such as the beginning, and then some elements towards the end of the film that just felt cheesy, but all the same, Red Dragon is a good film that entertains in its two hours and is really well made.