1)This movie had so many things wrong with I'm not sure where to begin. The biggest flaw in my mind is simply that Anthony Hopkins wasn't scary as Hannibal Lector in this one. In The Silence of the Lambs he was like a wickedly intelligent, caged animal who'd strike horribly if given any opportunity, not necessarily to escape prison, but just because he was a psychopath. In Hannibal, as a free man he spends almost all of the movie just being a normal person, attending shows, working, travelling, drinking his Espressos, etc, and there's just nothing intense or creepy about any of it. Given the fact that Anthony Hopkins is also visibly a decade older and a good bit heavier than he was in the original, he seems rather harmless, just like any guy you'd pass on the street.
2)A major problem with Hannibal is that the plot was really lacking. It seemed as though the events of the movie were just an excuse to reunite us with the two characters. You do have to appreciate the lengths with which the filmmakers went to, to make sure that every person killed in the movie was done so in some uniquely, and often outrageously gruesome way. But what left me the most disappointed however, was the fact that director decided to scrap the book's somewhat cool, albeit far-out ending in favor of... basically no ending at all. What they gave us here as far as I can tell, didn't answer anything, didn't resolve anything, didn't sum anything up. The movie just kind of stopped going after two hours and they rolled the credits
3) Starling believes in her sworn job of upholding the law. She does that at almost any personal sacrifice or insult and is puzzled why others in law enforcement don't believe the same way. Lecter is driven by an insane and distorted sense of justice. While criminally insane, he is the most attractive and uncorrupted man in the film. The three people Lecter kills are all deserving of punishment (though perhaps not death): Pazzi turns his back on his sworn duty in preference to personal gain, Mason Verger is an unpunished child molester, and Paul Krendler is a lying, sexist, careerist, corrupt perjurer. Lecter is intelligent and charming while at the same time a psychotic, murderous cannibal. Former nurse Barney has been making a profit from selling stolen Lecter artifacts to collectors. There is talk of drugs disappearing from FBI evidence lockers. There is a discussion of the Renaissance view of the crimes of Judas with various illustrations. There is considerable Christian symbolism used in the film. Language: Very few, but very strong vulgarities and profanities. Strong sexual insults. Homosexuality as an insult. Class insults.
4) This film is disturbing as much for its violence and gore as it is for its condemnation of a world where moral and legal justice have become so separated and distorted that those sworn to uphold the law are helpless and what is left of justice is meted out by the insane. This movie is for those of enjoy (or can tolerate) the Grand Guignol tradition of ultra-violence. Parents will have to deal with a film in which we root for a psychotic cannibalistic murderer.
Further Information
Runtime: 131 min / Germany:133 min
Country: UK / USA
Language: English / Italian / German
Color: Yes
Box-office gross: 165,091,986 US Dollars
