Movie vs. Book (Hannibal (DVD))

Member Name: Makzimum

Product:	Hannibal (DVD)
Date:	15/02/01 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful scenery, good performances

Disadvantages: Not enough plot background

I read the book by Thomas Harris and was duly impressed, so I went about seeing the movie as soon as it was released. I read the book only a few weeks prior to it's release so the memory of that was still fresh in my mind, and I was looking forward to the movie version. However, I must say I was slightly disappointed; so much of the book was missing. I know that it is unreasonable to think that a movie should follow its book counterpart exactly, but I just think that there was a lack of background and real understanding to certain key occurrences. For example, without giving away too much of the plot, the wild pigs seemed to appear from nowhere. In the book a full explanation of how they were specially bred for their task was given.

If you see this not having read the book then I’m sure the film would be a lot more satisfying. The Italian scenery is beautiful and some of the scenes are truly remarkable. I recommend watching out for a scene involving Hannibal and a pickpocket, it’s creepy music score and filming amongst pillars darkened by shadows is very good. Also, a very good shot is of Clarice Starling driving her Mustang through a sweeping grassy vista with a thin mist covering the ground. Very effective. Be warned though, some of the scenes are very gory and I think Jody Foster was a better Starling than Julianne Moore. But still, this is a good and entertaining film, but don’t read the book beforehand, read it afterwards to gain a little more insight into the film.

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