...like a fine gourmet meal that a diner has poured ketchup over for flavoring.
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Practically everybody liked Jonathan Demme´s "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) for its dark, sinister tone, its intensely gothic horror plot, and its fascinating interplay between the rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) and the captive cannibal, Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins). That film deservedly won a slew of Oscars, so a sequel was hardly in question. The wonder is that it took so long to happen, probably waiting for its author, Thomas Harris, to write a new book. The result is "Hannibal" (2001), which won no major awards and turned off almost as many fans of the previous film as "The Phantom Menace" disappointed followers of the "Star Wars" series.
With Hopkins back as everybody´s favorite meat eater, the only changes were in director, this time Ridley Scott ("Alien"), an old hand at bringing horror to the screen, and in Starling, now played by Julianne Moore. Scott takes everything as earnestly as he should, but he isn´t handed much of a script to deal with, overworking what little he does have. And Ms. Moore brings a new dimension of toughness to her role, appropriate to her character´s having been an FBI agent for ten years and hardened by the action.
The plot revolves around three interrelated goings on: First, one of Lecter´s early victims and the only one to survive, a horribly disfigured multimillionaire named Mason Verger (Gary Oldman, but you´d never know it behind all the makeup), puts out a $3,000,000 reward for any information leading to Lecter´s capture. He wants to punish Lecter for what he´s done to him. Second, a police detective named Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini) in Florence, Italy, catches on that Lecter is presently living in retirement in his fair city under the name of Dr. Fell, and he goes for the reward. Third, Starling gets re-involved with the Lecter case after she is falsely accused by the Bureau of an arrest gone bad and needs to redeem herself with a high-profile case.
The problem with all of this is twofold. Outside of Starling, everyone in the film is an unsympathetic villain. Verger is as much a monster as Lecter; Starling´s boss, Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta), is a sexist, duplicitous creep; the policeman, Pazzi, is not only greedy but more than a bit foolish; and the whole FBI takes the form of an Old Boys´ Club down on female agents. By comparison, Lecter looks like the good guy.
However, the movie´s other major failing is more conspicuous: it´s simply too gory. Of course, it´s supposed to be violent and bloody, but, honestly, folks, this is well over the top for anything but schlock horror or parody. Be prepared to watch as the director shows us a face being cut and pulled off, bit by bit; a disemboweling; a hanging; a throat slashing so severe it´s almost a decapitation; pools of blood everywhere; man-eating boars devouring people; a hand hacked off; and a lobotomy, complete with brains for dinner, just to name a few.
Basically, what we have in "Hannibal" is an expertly crafted film, filled with some tension and suspense (but no real fright), spoiled by mostly unlikable characters and an excess of flagrantly crude violence. It´s like a fine gourmet meal that a diner has poured ketchup over for flavoring.
Nevertheless, the dark, sinister tone remains, and that´s worth something; and Moore´s Starling is strong and dependable, and that´s worth something. And, of course, Hopkins is still Hopkins as Lecter--quiet, cultured, refined, eloquent, erudite, cold, and deadly. A really scary guy. He´s got some weird fascination for Starling, perhaps sensing in her a worthy opponent. Add in Hans Zimmer´s unnervingly tranquil, sometimes distorted music, plus the juxtaposition of classical tunes from Strauss and Bach and others with all the bloodshed and carnage, and a dose of humor besides, and there are things to be said for the film. Not enough, but a few. I liked the line from Barney (Frankie Faison), Lecter´s former guard, when he says he isn´t afraid the old maniac will come back after him because Lecter "would only eat the rude; free-range rude, he called them." Later, when Lecter is asked if he is from America, he replies no, he´s only traveled through, but he adds he has "enjoyed many excellent meals there."
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[release]7786[/release]