Review of Red Dragon (2002) by Jessie C — 01 Aug 2010

Watched this the other night...honestly, filled me with that fright that compels one to check under the bed and in the closet- but in a good way!

I loved this movie..I thought it was excellent. First off, the character of Hannibal was just as chilling as ever, just as scary. There's a scene where Hopkins looked almost straight into the camera, and his face alone scared the hell out of me. Truly intelligent casting, expert. Norton is great as well, as always. Hoffman played a character who successfully evoked a genuine dislike from me..I really could not stand him. The Red Dragon, played by Fiennes, was established well, from finding out about his first crime to when he finally came on screen. He was freaky, but somehow managed to get the audience to sympathize with him, which is excellent acting and dialogue. Impressive.

The direction was great. The scenes, the dialogue, the acting, everything was high quality. If I made this myself, I'd be pretty damn proud of myself. Most scenes had terrific composition, they were just wonderful to look at. Great cinematography. The plot was intriguing, smart, interesting, scary. I was never bored, never confused. There was a good amount of emotion in the film, some of it was relatable, like family love and such, and some of it was sickening, like child abuse. There wasn't too much or too little, there was a great balance.

I'm definitely gonna buy this movie when I have the dough. I got a kick out of it and I'd like to see it again.