Full Circle (Red Dragon - Thomas Harris)

Name: Hunting_Bears

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Product:	Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Date:	12.10.02 (136 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great acting, great story

Disadvantages: none

"Red Dragon" is surprisingly good. After Ridley Scott's camp "Hannibal" and Jonathan Demme's gothic "Silence of the Lambs" I was expecting to be entertained but nothing beyond that. "Red Dragon" apart from a few minor problems is entertaining and has a great story. The film in terms of visuals is certainly trying to emulate Jonathan Demme's "Silence of the Lambs" gothic look with the return of Hannibal Lector's dungeon cell and Francis Dolarhyde's spooky old house deep in the woods. Director Brett Ratner understood that this is exactly what the audience wanted, Ridley Scott made Hannibal Lector a camp old man who was not very threatening, apart from having a funny bad guy played by Gary Oldman and a gory ending "Hannibal" was a disappointment. "Red Dragon" scores huge points in the screenplay and acting department. The story is so involving and the acting especially from Ralph Fiennes is excellent. Ladies and Gentlemen "Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lector" is back!

"Red Dragon" had to happen. The world was thirsty for Hannibal Lector after he was given full exposure in the grand opera that was "Hannibal". Anthony Hopkins became an icon of modern day cinema in the 1990's with his truly chilling turn in "Silence of the Lambs". For once in a Hollywood film, the serial killer was not a babbling loon but a well-mannered intellectual with a cold gaze and expert at mind games. Hannibal Lector was a character everybody loved, even if he was a violent cannibal. He caught the imagination of cinema fans and then... nothing. Film fans had to wait for nine years before they got another dose of Hannibal Lector. Ridley Scott's visually impressive but boring "Hannibal" was good for only two things, sales of "Silence of the Lambs" went back up into the charts and the public got to see their favour

ite psycho.

Italian film producer Dino deLaurentiis held the rights to "Red Dragon" and had made the film as "Manhunter" in 1986. The problem with "Manhunter" was that it did not have Anthony Hopkins in it and secondly Michael Mann was more interested about the processes in capturing a serial killer than thrilling the audience. "Manhunter" is a great film and "Red Dragon" will make it more of a curiosity.

There was a need to complete the trilogy with Anthony Hopkins. This would give a certain amount of continuity in characters and story. This was badly damaged by Jodie Foster's unwillingness to reprise her role of Clarice Starling. Julianne Moore played her very well in "Hannibal" but it just wasn't the same. Jodie Foster was tough yet vulnerable when interviewing Lector, Julianne Moore looked like she could kick his ass without much effort.

I will concede that Brett Ratner was an odd choice of director. He is an egotist and not the greatest of directors. He has made "Rush Hour" movies that are lame and the excellent Nicolas Cage movie "Family Man". I think the producers picked Ratner so that they could control him and he wanted to make a name for himself. Ratner inadvertently has produced the best "Hannibal Lector" film. There is a lack of pretentiousness that marred both "Lambs" and "Hannibal". The style of the film is "Lambs" and everybody even Hopkins is restrained in performance. Hopkins is playing Lector more as angry and bitter, rather than menacing or camp. My favourite scene between Lector and Graham is when Lector asks Graham how he caught him. Graham tells Lector that he had "disadvantages". Lector asks Graham what are his disadvantages. Graham stares at Lector and says; "You're insane". This scene is tense and humorous in a black comedy kind of way.

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The story opens with Hannibal Lector being caught and Will Graham quitting the FBI because of his ability to think like a serial killer. He has had enough of the sick world in which he tries to save lives by trying to think like and out think a murderer. Edward Norton takes a while to get into his character but after a while Norton becomes Graham, an obsessive man who at first reluctantly takes the case but eventually pursues it with a passion.

The story is split into three narratives and the plot strands work very well together. There is the Lector and Graham story in which Lector helps and hinders Will Graham's search for "The Tooth Fairy", the detective plot of solving the case and a strange romance between a serial killer and a blind woman. These elements make the characters more psychologically rounded and believable. The cast all round is excellent and the film is full of witty dialogue, my favourite being Hannibal Lector's summation of Dr. Chiltern's probing technique as "Like a freshman fumbling with a panty girdle".

The screenplay was by Ted Tally and he also wrote the script for "Silence of the Lambs" and I like his style. The story is character-based rather than relying on action sequences and such to move the plot forward.

The most annoying thing was the self-referencing at the end in which Dr. Chiltern asks Lector if he wanted to see a female FBI agent who wanted to ask him some questions. The audience smiles and assumes that Clarice Starling's story is about to happen and we all must rush home and watch "Silence of the Lambs". I found this a bit foolish and unnecessary due to the time span between "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs" which must be at least a few years, if it is in the book "Red Dragon" that's fine but I still found it annoying.

There was also Brett Ratner who is basicall
y trying to make
"Silence of the Lambs" part 2, even though technically "Dragon" came first. The film could have been directed by any competent director, "Manhunter" had it's unique visual style and so did all the rest, Ratner is a studio whipping boy. It show's that Ratner is no auteur like Michael Mann and Ridley Scott (I don't consider Jonathan Demme an auteur). The studio wanted a director to make the film and cause no fuss. The title and Hopkins is all that is important. Hannibal Lector is a brand name. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "Further adventures of Hannibal Lector" in the pipeline.

However faceless "Red Dragon" is in terms of directing style, it is to the credit of the casting director and Ratner himself that he fills the film with excellent character actors.

Harvey Keitel is a good reliable actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as the seedy journalist Freddie Lounds and Emily Watson is great as Rebe McClane, a blind woman who dates a serial killer. Edward Norton is probably America's greatest young actor. Anthony Hopkins is mesmerising as Lector and Ralph Fiennes holds your attention every time the creepy Mr. D is on the screen. At once genuinely mad but also a sad and lonely figure, even Will Graham feels sorry for him and he's a cop. I liked how the film was filled with actors rather than "movie stars" and how they bring a sense of class to the proceedings. "Red Dragon" will do huge box office like all Lector films (with Tony Hopkins in) and it deserves to.


"Red Dragon" is a great film and certainly the best of the bunch and I hope they lay to rest the characters or until Thomas Harris "one book every decade" writes a new episode in the life of Lector. Where could he go? What could he do? The world is Lector's oyster and we are on the menu.



"R
ed Dragon" Cert 1
5
Running Time: 2 hrs 20 mins

Director: Brett Ratner
Producers: Martha and Dino De Laurentiis
Writer: Ted Tally based on "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris
Director of Photography: Dante Spinotti
Music: Danny Elfman


Cast:

Ed Norton as Will Graham
Ralph Fiennes as Francis Dolarhyde
Harvey Kietel as Jack Crawford
Emily Watson as Rebe McClane
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Freddy Lounds
Anthony Heald as Dr. Chiltern
Mary Louise Parker as Molly Graham
And Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lector

Hunting Bears gives "Red Dragon" 8/10

Summary: