Hannibal picks up 10 years after the events of The Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal escaped, and he is now hiding out in Italy, continuing his cannibalistic crime spree there. A former victim of Hannibal, Mason Verger, has hired a police detective to track him down and capture him, so he can have his revenge. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Clarice Starling has been disgraced due to a botched operation. When she receives a note from Hannibal, she begins trying to track him down. This movie is nowhere near as good as Silence of the Lambs, but it has its moments.
The first thing wrong with this movie is that the style of film making and storytelling is vastly different. Whereas the first film managed to be disturbing, yet not excessively gory at the same time, this movie is more about the gore. It was a bold psychological thriller meant to make you think. Ridley Scott made this movie as a slasher movie, with scenes of gratuitous gore where it isn't necessary. He turned Hannibal from a highly intelligent sociopath to a highly intelligent serial slasher. It is nice to finally see Hannibal Lecter as the main antagonist, since the first two films had him confined to a cell helping the FBI with the capture of other serial killers. However, those stories were much more interesting than this one. This movie comes off as far more boring than the previous films.
The acting isn't as good either. Julianne Moore comes nowhere close to portraying Clarice in the way Jodie Foster did. Foster made it her own character, whereas Julianne Moore desperately tries to copy Foster, and fails miserably. Ray Liotta is terrible in his role. Gary Oldman is mildly entertaining as Mason Verger. As for Anthony Hopkins, he's still a great actor, and he does good in this movie. However, he seems to have lost that creepy voice that made Hannibal memorable. Now he just speaks with his normal accent.
Overall, this movie certainly has its moments, and I'd recommend it to people who liked Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs, but be warned...It's nowhere near as good.
6/10
The first thing wrong with this movie is that the style of film making and storytelling is vastly different. Whereas the first film managed to be disturbing, yet not excessively gory at the same time, this movie is more about the gore. It was a bold psychological thriller meant to make you think. Ridley Scott made this movie as a slasher movie, with scenes of gratuitous gore where it isn't necessary. He turned Hannibal from a highly intelligent sociopath to a highly intelligent serial slasher. It is nice to finally see Hannibal Lecter as the main antagonist, since the first two films had him confined to a cell helping the FBI with the capture of other serial killers. However, those stories were much more interesting than this one. This movie comes off as far more boring than the previous films.
The acting isn't as good either. Julianne Moore comes nowhere close to portraying Clarice in the way Jodie Foster did. Foster made it her own character, whereas Julianne Moore desperately tries to copy Foster, and fails miserably. Ray Liotta is terrible in his role. Gary Oldman is mildly entertaining as Mason Verger. As for Anthony Hopkins, he's still a great actor, and he does good in this movie. However, he seems to have lost that creepy voice that made Hannibal memorable. Now he just speaks with his normal accent.
Overall, this movie certainly has its moments, and I'd recommend it to people who liked Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs, but be warned...It's nowhere near as good.
6/10