Rating: 
Summary: Much more realistic then Silence of the Lambs
Review: This movie is very eerie and the characters get maximum performance from the stars portraying them. Brian Cox is exceptional in his role. I enjoyed this movie much more than its sequel. This movie will send chills down your spine. Be prepared for a movie that will leave its mark on you.
Rating:
Summary: Another Michael Mann masterpiece
Review: Easily one of my favorite movies, MANHUNTER boasts the screen debut of Dr. Hannibal Lektor [one of many different spellings being used in movie and book form]. Brian Cox gives Lektor a cool & calculating, yet sinister, sheen -- much more subtle than Sir Anthony Hopkins' take on him years later in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Comparisons are unfair, though. Both were excellent.Most interesting about MANHUNTER's story, the reluctant yet vigorous and obsessive pursuit of a serial killer by a retired FBI profiler, is the detail of the search -- the forensics, the legwork, the research, and the careful plodding. When FBI agent Will Graham finally breaks the case open, we feel the same horrifying thrill. We are simultaneously excited and fearful. This film is not star-studded like LAMBS, so it comes off as a bit edgier and more girtty. And that only makes this excellent film better.
Rating: 
Summary: Manhunter
Review: Michael Mann's Manhunter (1986) was a superb work. His translation of the Red Dragon to the big screen was magnificent. This movie had exceptional dialogue, motivation, and depth - at a level Silence of the Lambs could not touch. William Peterson presented a believable and capable FBI profiler and Dennis Farina complemented this with the impetus you would expect from an FBI director. Brian Cox was magnificent as Hannibal Lektor, living the script as a genius and psychopath. Francis Dollarhyde (killer) was a truly terrifying nemisis, which his educated yet perverted manifestation of artistic impression. The supporting cast rounded out the plot with the detail and grounds to move from ignorance to a well defined conclusion. Michael Mann also imposed a wonderful musical score suiting every stage of the movie. Silence of the Lambs (1991) extended the Lektor myth. Although a decent movie with good acting, the movie was relatively shallow. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) was an upcoming agent, but her methods were weak and blind luck was her greatest asset. Buffalo Bill (the killer) was basically portrayed as a moronic psychopathic killer with a few gadgets to provide him his edge. Lektor (Anthony Hopkins) was portrayed more of a demon with supernatural abilities, as opposed to the low-key sophistication and intellectual prowess the character originally had. Also, note the many dialogue rip-offs from Manhunter when Lektor is being interviewed Clarice Starling versus Will Graham in Manhunter; these were convenienltly removed from the re-release of Manhunter so beware... you may not be getting the original version. Manhunter was an Academy Award quality movie which went unnoticed. I have showed Manhunter after Silence of the Lambs to many first-time viewers of both... Manhunter was the preferred movie to all. You owe it to yourself to experience Manhunter.
Rating:
Summary: The unbearable lightness of seeing
Review: Watching recent re-runs, it is apparent that time has not been kind to Miami Vice. It's particular battle between style and substance swinging too heavily in the favour of ripped denim and pastel shades and at first glance many of its vices (no pun intended) are there to be seen in Manhunter. It is true that some of the substance of Thomas Harris' book Red Dragon was jettisoned, but what remained was sufficient to generate one of the few genuinely scary movies of all time. Scary despite the fact that the film, unlike The Silence of the Lambs, does not take place in dark and confined spaces, prerequisites for much of the genre. In most of the film there is an abundance of light and space. The film's pivotal scene and perhaps its scariest takes place in the full glare of a movie projector as Will Graham realises the link between the two families, both victim to the Tooth Fairy, the method whereby the killer has selected his victims. So the unseen horrors meted out in the dead of night are discovered and investigated in daylight and the brilliant and clinical whiteness of Hannibal Lecter's cell.
Rating: 
Summary: If you loved Red Dragon, do yourself a favor and skip this
Review: So much of the integral parts of the book Red Dragon were completely ignored in this movie rip off, that it is a bitter disappointment. You don't even see or hear the name Francis Dollarhyde until he kidnaps the reporter! There is not nearly enough investment into Dollarhydes psyche, let alone his motives. The characters that Thomas Harris so vividly brought to life in his book are shallow replicas in this movie. If you loved the book Red Dragon, do yourself a favor and skip this movie.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite
Review: One of the best movies I've seen. I first saw it in the '80's, when it first came out on video. Idea's from this movie show up everywhere (Millenium, Profiler, Silence, Backdraft, etc). This was the first "detective gets into the mind of the killer" movies. Great acting, great soundtrack and a better Lector.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, underrated Michael Mann masterpiece.
Review: What can I do to help get this released in DVD or even SP format? Please let me know.
Rating:
Summary: super simply super!
Review: one of my all time favorites,petersen is anatural as will graham he is likable beleiveable,mann has away of holding you spelbound.if you liked sotl your in for a real treat.E.P.????
Rating:
Summary: Dammit, Dino, give us a widescreen re-release.
Review: First, it must be said: Brian Cox _IS_ Hannibal Lecter. Hopkins played him as too much of an out-and-out crazy. Cox's take on the character is more relaxed, refined. You can believe that his heart rate didn't go over 85 when he attacked that nurse, while Hopkins' Lecter's blood is clearly pumping hard during his escape in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Anyway. Michael Mann takes Harris' novel and tells the story on his own terms, wisely abandoning Harris' literary aspects in favor of his own visual and aural strategies. The look of the film shifts from heavy blues and whites to reds and oranges and the sound evolves from very spare ambient to quiet Shriekback, the incredible "Strong As I am" by the Prime Movers, to Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (which you will never hear the same way again). And Mann fills the screen (as usual) with actors able to convey the story with effective, often silent performances (William Petersen, Tom Noonan, and Joan Allen's turns are every bit as impressive as Cox's). We can only hope that producer Dino di Laurentiis will cash in on the interest in the HANNIBAL film project (and in Mann's latest film THE INSIDER) and rerelease this in a restored version. Incidentally, an interview with Cox on playing Lecter can be found in a volume of John Boorman's film journal PROJECTIONS. Essential reading.
Rating:
Summary: Scarry as hell but why video in EP Mode
Review: I read the book RED DRAGON and was scared reading it in the middle of the day let alone at night. I went to the theatre and saw Manhuter with my to be wife and she was scared under her seat. About 10 mins. into the movie I realized that this was the RED DRAGON. It's not the book but damn good anyway. Loved Lektor with Brian Cox. So some 15 years later I rented the movie and wanted to turn some friends on to this classic. To my suprize the movie was EP Mode. This screwed the cinematography and the great look Mann gave this movie. Please get the studio to release sp ver and a dvd letterbox version. If you rent the EP ver you'll be dissapointed.
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