Hannibal

Rating:
Summary: Hannibal
Review: See it. It's not as good as the book, but it's worth seeing. Jodie Foster's absence improves the sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Better than being in a cell
Review: It seems to me as if critics do not like this movie for its bloody content or its hype. But let's face it, this is "Hannibal Lecter" did you think that it would be like a trip to Disney? The game of cat and mouse keeps the movie going, adding suspense. And as you know any movie with a depraved serial killer needs gore as well as art and Hopkins certainly provides that. I thought that Moore's acting was as dry as a cactus. She ment more time busting "Drumgo" than Hopkins eluding her with snares. Besides the dryness the only other flaw would be that Hopkins doesn't seem to have a point to his killings. In my opinion this version is far better, as in the last, Hopkins was in a cell the entire movie!

Rating:
Summary: Gross Out!!! Somewhat true to the book - which was bad too!
Review: Silence of the Lambs is a drama -- Hannibal is a horror film. There's the difference - plain and simple.

Harris is rumored to have resented the Hollywood call to create a sequel book that could be lifted and pasted into a film format. Well, I read Hannibal the book and really thought he'd gone too far. Clarice Starling isn't a literary character who will live forever such as Huckleberry Finn, but she was true and real. Hannibal's Clarice betrays the original book (and film).

No, this isn't what I thought it would be. It is too Lector-centric. The beauty of Silence of the Lambs was that Lector was a supporting player. Here, he has to carry the film. It is too much and too in your face.

The ending, although much more true to the Starling in the first film, is a gorefest.

I've watched some of the goriest films ever put out there and my stomach literally turned - I thought I was going to vomit. This is really some gross stuff.....Would I see it again? (Hate to admit it, but - yeah- probably.)

But be warned - this is a really really gross film - don't take the kids (like so many did when I saw it - they will be scarred for life from it).

Rating:
Summary: Genious is followed by normality
Review: "Hannibal" was the second possibility for Hopkins to play this amazing, all people around the world shocking character Lecter. But he fails. All the genious that takes place in "Silence of the Lambs", all the frantic and bizarre movements of his face, his hands and his body, are now followed by a normal acting, no shocking anymore, drawing quite a caricature of this character. It seems to me as if Hopkins is bored by acting.

Rating:
Summary: Read the Book
Review: What I will never understand is why this movie is named Hannibal and yet Scott totally omits the memories of Hannibal's childhood. That was so central to his relationship with Clarice I cannot comprehend it's exclusion. Also, was it me or did I see the boom mike enter into the picture from the top of the screen a few times? Not a very good adaption. Silence of the Lambs was so good because basically there wasn't a thing changed from Harris' book

Rating:
Summary: Hannibal is no Silence of the Lambs
Review: I saw Hannibal in the theatre after reading the book and enduring the months of hype that preceeded it. I was trying to be open-minded about it. I loved Silence of the Lambs and easily consider it to be one of the all time classics in film making. I was thoroughly disappointed.

There are so many things to dislike about this movie, even if you take it out of the Silence of the Lambs category. Julianne Moore as Clarice...well, I'll give her credit...those are some awfully big shoes to fill and while I think she did try, her performance was flat and mediocre at best. The book, in case you haven't read it, essentially turns all of the characters into side-show freaks and that couldn't be removed from the script which underwent massive re-writes right up until production. Director Ridley Scott does manage to provide atmosphere to this film but that doesn't detract from the pitiful storyline.

Gary Oldman plays the character of Mason Verger, whose only goal in life is to get revenge for what Hannibal did to him years before (which was basically remove his face). Now, its says alot that Oldman's name doesn't appear in the credits...could it be embarrassment to be associated with this film? Ray Liotta does a fair job of portraying the sexist, repulsive and crooked FBI agent, but the infamous dinner scene which was supposed to be scary and climatic falls flat and winds up being a joke.

Now, lets discuss Anthony Hopkins. His portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs was a mixture of pure evil and pure genius. His acting ability in that film was exceptional and frankly, it made everyone sit up and take notice. He was creepy and scary and somehow endearing all at once. He was subtle and over the top and man, did he make the most sinister and unforgettable character of all time. And then there was Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal. What happened? Hannibal the Cannibal went from being scary and stylish to being old and perverted. Phrases like "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti, fphhh fphhh fphhh" have now been replaced with "Okey dokey" WHAT?!! He wasn't scary or sinister at all...he was just a pitiful old man wandering around in a library half the time and pretending to be threatening. I felt sorry for him one minute and disgusted the next. I kept wanting to yell "KILL SOMEONE AND EAT THEIR LIVER OR SOMETHING." And the whole Hannibal vs. Clarice thing was transformed into something even sicker than liver-eating. I kept waiting to see "Lector Loves Clarice" carved into a tree or something. It was far more fun to know that he respected her and felt the world was more interesting with her in it than this in-your-face twisted obsession.

Needless to say, I cannot recommend this film. Please rent it before you shell out the cash for your own copy. If you want to see a good, original and truly creepy film, buy Silence of the Lambs and leave this ... sequel on the shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Just awful
Review: One of the worst movies of the year and being a Thomas Harris fan, one of the worst adaptions ever made. Not even close to the level of Silence of the Lambs or Manhunter, totally ruined by a inferior script that strays far from the book. Would have been 10 times better if it remotly was closer to the book.

Rating:
Summary: This is NOT Silence of the Lambs, Part 2
Review: Too many people have gone into this movie with the expectation of watching Silence of the Lambs rehashed. I haven't ever anticipated a movie so much, and I was very nervous that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. It exceeded them.

Hannibal cannot be compared to Silence because they are completely different. Silence was a crime thriller, while Hannibal was suspense and a little romance. The motivating forces are different, as well. In Hannibal, there is no race against the clock to save the day. The pace is very laid back, and the story unfolds in its own time.

Returning to the lead character, Anthony Hopkins delivers a performance as good as I've come to expect. In Silence, we didn't get to learn much about Hannibal, because he was behind the glass for most of the movie. But this is his movie, and Hopkins does it well. He's not as scary as he was in Silence, but that was ten years ago, and he's mellowed out a lot. Don't get me wrong ... he's still scary. But he can also be a lot of other things as well.

Julianne Moore replaced Jodie Foster, and to tell you the truth, I didn't miss her. Except for the scene with the recordings. But other than that, Julianne Moore was truly excellent. I had always liked her as an actress, but this movie made me truly respect her abilities.

The score by Hans Zimmer is absolutely beautiful. It's been a long time since I've bought a movie soundtrack, but this one was worth it. I really hope there's an isolated score on the DVD.

All in all, it is a very entertaining movie. There's a little bit of everything, from suspense to a little horror to romance. Just remember, it's not Silence of the Lambs.

Rating:
Summary: Hannibal? More, More...
Review: Outstanding!! Brilliant!! Wonderful. This movie was a definite psychological thriller. This movie has simple twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire duration of the movie.

If you like psychological thriller, with a "little Hollywood" and a little action, you'll like this one. Check it out for yourself

Rating:
Summary: Hannibal Rules!
Review: Whoever didn't like Hannibal,is just a boob. Most people compare it to SOTL,and you just can't. Its a totally different deal here.Hannibal is soo cool, and classy. Julianne Moore did a good job playing Clarice when you consider shes been in the fBI for ten years, and is a little hardend by things. I think the chemistry between Foster Hopkins would have been slightly better, but with him in it, you can over look just about anything.Everyone who dies in the movie deserves it, and the deaths are oh so classic! I saw it 3 times while in the theaters.