Hannibal - Never understood (all) the hate

Yes, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ was a classic.  If you’re looking for deep, nasty performances (which cumulate with Anthony Hopkins even winning an Oscar) then Silence of the Lambs is for you.  However, if you’re the majority who believe that Sir Hopkins makes a better Hannibal Lector than that other bloke in (technically the predecessor) ‘Red Dragon’ then you should get plenty of fun out of the – simply-titled – ‘Hannibal.’

If you’re thinking of watching ‘Hannibal’ then it’s probably not too much of a spoiler to say that it starts out with the insane serial killer Hannibal ‘the cannibal’ Lector on the run and quietly evading the authorities.  However, his life is about to take an inevitable turn for the dramatic when his paths cross former (how should I describe her – friend?  Colleague?  Inquisitor?) Clarice Starling (only played by Julianne Moore rather than Jodie Foster).  Therefore, our favourite human-eater is forced out of retirement to cause more mayhem.

So, ‘Hannibal,’ like so many sequels, doesn’t really live up to the original.  However, that’s not for the want to trying.  It has many things going for it.  Obviously, Anthony Hopkins is one of them (and the main one to be sure).  He’s as creepy and chilling as ever and, now that he’s on the loose, it makes you wonder if anyone is really safe.  You also have Ridley Scott behind the camera providing excellent shot composition, atmosphere and performances.  And, don’t believe everything you hear about recasting Foster with Moore.  I’m not saying against Foster, but – in my humble opinion – Moore is actually a better Agent Starling than Foster.  Then, to cap it all, you have an – almost unrecognisable – Gary Oldman as a completely insane former victim of Lector, now hell-bent on revenge.

So, take all four of those plus points on any other movie and you’d probably get guaranteed of an instant classic.  Sadly, not so here. ‘Hannibal’ was met with indifference from many, including die-hard fans of Silence of the Lambs.  I like ‘Hannibal,’ but I can see where they’re coming from.  This film does tend to simply lack direction.  It’s like there are so many good pieces to its puzzle, yet they’re never really lined out in any particular order to link them seamlessly together.  In short, ‘Hannibal’ is all over the place.

Yet, despite this, I enjoy it for what it is and regularly watch it.  As long as you’re not expecting anything quite as ‘fluid’ as Silence of the Lambs and are fans of any or all of the central actors/directors then there’s definitely something here to be enjoyed.

Just don’t look too deeply at the fog.  It’s everywhere.  It’s like a ‘dry ice’ machine was left running on every exterior scene at night.  Weird.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that