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Hannibal 2001 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Ridley Scott
R, 131 min. (strong gruesome violence, nudity, language) |
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Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Giancarlo Giannini, Ray Liotta, Gary Oldman, Zeljko Ivanek
Producers: Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis, Ridley Scott
Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, David Mamet
Cinematography: John Mathieson
Distributor: MGM
Released: 2.09.01 (Wide) |
Rating:
  (out of ) |
This highly anticipated sequel to the Academy Award-winning The Silence of the Lambs had audiences
flocking to the theater to see what new evil deeds Dr. Hannibal Lecter had in store for them. It almost
sounds a bit blood-thirsty huh? Well, it's what America has sunk to now for entertainment, and that's
a bit unnerving. But there is some acting involved here, although the story itself leaves much to be
desired, and that's why I would give it a mild recommendation.
Anthony Hopkins returns as Lecter and doesn't miss a beat as the intelligent but evil Dr. Lecter. Hopkins
has almost mastered this character, and it shows during several brilliant scenes in the movie. He won't
win any Oscar nominations for this performance, but it's still top-notch. His counterpart, Clarice Starling,
also returns, but Jodie Foster is nowhere to be seen. Instead it's Julianne
Moore who plays the part, and for the most part plays it well. Given what she has to work with, Moore
does an admirable job of depicting an FBI agent ten years down the road from her gung-ho character in the
first film. She's a little more tarnished and cynical, even winning the award for "most kills by a female
FBI agent", and almosts seems like she needs Lecter back in her life. And Lecter is all too happy to fill
that void.
We knew that Lecter was always fond of Clarice, but he takes it to another level in this film. In fact,
it's very close to "over the top" but manages to just keep the relationship stable long enough until the
story falls apart at the end of film. The end is almost anti-climactic, as the movie should have ended fifteen minutes earlier after she
rescues him from a certain pigs' meal. There is no question the very end of the movie was hard to stomach
for most viewers (especially for the few that were vomiting in the theater), and really wasn't needed to build
any more suspense. The grotesque brain-filleting scene will undoubtedly be the one that fans will always remember, but
the good scenes in the movie come near the beginning of the film.
As Lecter has relocated to Europe, he
builds the suspense with his touch-and-go relationship with a police officer (Rinado Pazzi) that suspects him to be the
infamous Hannibal Lecter, now on the top ten most wanted list by the FBI. Pazzi's decision to turn Hannibal
in to the FBI is the best series of scenes in the movie as you don't know when or if Hannibal has detected
him yet. The result is a gruesome death by Lecter's hands, but during that scene Hannibal shows his
sadistic side with his "okey-dokey" and "here we go" comments while he takes Pazzi to a window to throw
him off. At this point, the movie begins a downward spin that culminates in the confusing and disappointing
ending. Had the movie been able to stay at this level of suspense throughout, it may have equaled its
predecessor.
Ray Liotta plays Paul Krendler, another FBI agent trying to track down Lecter and put him away for good.
He suspects Clarice has a close tie to Hannibal, but hasn't figured it out yet. Overall, his character
is weak and is not needed in this movie. Indeed, it seems that he has been put in the movie just to be
the sacrificial lamb for Hannibal's fun at the end. Gary Oldman also plays Mason Verger, a millionaire
who is another past victim of one of Lecter's games and is grossly deformed. You don't know it's Oldman
at all, since his name is not in the credits, but his performance is actually quite good.
If you can stomach a few horrific scenes and get past some shoddy writing at a few points in the movie,
you'll enjoy the strong acting performances of Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore.
© 2001 Jonathan Cornwell
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 |
 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
| Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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