Well hello Clarice... (Hannibal (DVD))

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Product:	Hannibal (DVD)
Date:	01/03/01 (10 review reads)
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Ridley Scott's follow up to Jonathan Demme's classic 'Silence of the Lambs' is a strange creature. Whereas the earlier films (including the excellent Manhunter) used the character of Lector as an essential yet supporting character, this time round the good doctor takes centre stage.

It's ten years since the events of SOTL, and Lector is living in a beautifully shot Florence, trying to get a job as the curator of a museum under a pseudonym. When Clarice Starling (a slightly one-dimensional Julianne Moore) takes the rap for a bungled narcotics bust and consequently gets re-assigned onto the Lector case, Hannibal takes a renewed interest in his old acquaintance.

Meanwhile Mason Verger, one of Hannibal’s former patients and the only victim to survive, has a plan to capture his tormentor and reap a rather grisly revenge. Thus begins a cat and mouse chase involving a mercenary Italian cop, some corrupt State Dept. types and the discredited Starling as bait.

There are several problems with this movie; as a psychological thriller it lacks tension - it won't set your pulse racing in the same way the earlier films did. It's also very improbable, with Lector featuring on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, yet seemingly able to travel freely between Europe and the States without recognition.
Furthermore, Hannibal himself is just too charismatic - apart from his penchant for sautéed human brains, he's a cultured, sophisticated fellow who you'd like to have round for dinner...(perhaps) The monstrous medical anomaly of SOTL has transformed into a rougue-ish anti-hero whose company the audience can't help but enjoy.

This slightly detracts from his authority as a villain with the power to terrify, but Hopkins' performance is such that this diminished fear factor proves ultimately inconsequential. Helped along by some sharp pacey direction from the resurgent Scott and a great soundtrack, t
he movie keeps you sufficiently engaged not to question some of the more unlikely plot developments.

It's much more shockingly gory than SOTL, and scenes including the hideously disfigured Mason Verger employ some fairly stomach turning prosthetic effects. Gary Oldman is in there somewhere, but you wouldn't know but for a flashback scene featuring Lectors bizarre torture techniques. And the main talking point of the film - a scene involving the unfortunate Ray Liotta, will go down in cinema history as one of the grossest gourmet feasts ever committed to celluloid.

It's funny, it's sick, it's pretty ludicrous and it's not a particularly brilliant movie, but it is unmissable, and if you're a Hopkins fan you're in for a treat. Just make sure you've eaten before you go into the auditorium, as the grotesque finale will guarantee that your appetite deserts you.

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