Review of The Silence of the Lambs (1991) by Dillinger P — 24 Sep 2015

Although the most critically acclaimed out of any adaptations of the Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter collection, The Silence Of The Lambs is most likely the most over rated. That's not to say its a bad film, or that the rest in this iteration are better, Silence can at times hit the nail on the head, in terms of tone and characterization, it can also at times be far too melodramatic for it or its source materials own good.

Silence follows Clarice Starling, a member of the FBI academy and a bright young student, who is purposefully enlisted by Jack Crawford, the head of behavioral science at the FBI, to try and manipulate Hannibal Lecter into helpings the FBI catch a demented serial killer, who tortures young girls and wears their skin.

Clarice soon finds her cocky attitude beneficial to the investigation and is soon working around the clock to ensure the dangerous Buffalo Bill is stopped before he can butcher his next victim. I'll just get it out the way now and say that Anthony Hopkins, in my opinion is one of the best actors of his generation, there is no doubt about that, and although with Lecter he completely embodies him, the entire performance and surroundings are far too gothic horror for my liking.

In comparison to Manhunter, here Lecter and the other characters, Clarice, Crawford and Bill, all played wonderfully by Foster, Glenn and Levine, all have a huge inclusion here, every character seems weighty and rounded, which is a massive step up from Manhunter, however although Hopkins has way more to play with here, the direction cannot help but steer him and the entire film into a cross between old hammer horror movies and an episode of Ms Marple.

Luckily Foster is on fine form as our protagonist and Levine puts in a completely harrowing performance and demonic serial killer Buffalo Bill. Demme's picture is not exactly stunning to behold either, there are some nice and intentional stylistic camera choices, littered throughout the piece that add an air of unease but overall Silence is fairly bland and uninteresting to look at.

It is also extremely uneasy on the ears, with a completely misplaced soundtrack, that seems to be completely unaware for most of the time, what is actually being show on screen. Silence does some wonderful stuff, it manages to make its characters weighty and relevant, it does a smashing job of gripping you throughout its proceedings and it really relishes in the lore of the story, the only problem is its final direction, had Demme told Hopkins to steer his performance a little less demented a more frightening lead character would have surfaced here.

Demme seems to want to hold Lecter up with the great horror legends and although his character is frighteningly capable, the tone just feels completely off. The film always feels completely different whenever Hopkins is on screen and it hurts.

Silence can be praised for doing a lot of good for this franchise, however it can also be held accountable for what was to become for the next 20 years. Worth a watch but not essential.