Rating: 
Summary: CHOMP!!!
Review: I was extremely skeptical when I first heard about this movie. Afterall, what else could possibly be done with this insane, yet incredibly well told story? A lot as it turns out. RED DRAGON is a "pre-quel", occuring before agent Starling's arrival. Yes, Hannibal Lecter (sir Anthony Hopkins) is in it. He is still the sinister black heart of the series. This time, he's called upon to help the FBI track down the equally evil and mysterious "Tooth Fairy" (Ralph Fiennes) killer, who is killing entire families and leaving bizarre clues behind. Ed Norton is agent Will Graham (who incidentally put Lecter away after being stabbed nearly to death by the good doctor). Graham has been retired ever since, with his wife (Mary Louise Parker) and child in Florida. His ex-boss (Harvey Keitel) Coaxes Graham out of retirement in order to try and stop the TF before he kills again. Graham eventually seeks Lecter's genius and intimate knowledge of the subject matter. Together, they slowly put the Pieces in place. Can the Tooth Fairy be caught before killing again? What is the secret behind his murders? Norton and Hopkins are excellent in their roles. Feinnes is great as a truly menacing psychopath. He plays his twisted yet pathetic character with ease and believability. He pulls off the near impossible task of being a serial murderer deserving of at least some sympathy. Emily Watson plays a blind woman who unknowingly finds herself in love with the Tooth Fairy! I would put RED DRAGON in the same league as THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. It's smart, scary, and packs quite a punch, even for this jaded viewer...
Rating: 
Summary: Manhunter is a better movie, Red Dragon has better actors
Review: Thomas Harris' is a great writer. The Silence of the Lambs still stands as one of the four or five best books I've ever read, Red Dragon is a great book as well, but Hannibal leaves a lot to be desired. But, anyways, we're talking movies here not books.Most of you know that Red Dragon is an adaptation of the Thomas Harris book of the same name that was made into a movie before called Manhunter. The plot of both movies and the novel is that there's a killer on the loose nicknamed The Tooth Fairy. The Tooth Fairy kills entire families and arranges the bodies in a ritualistic fashion. The FBI can't find a pattern or a motive, so they bring in Will Graham who's one of their top profilers, but who has retired after a bloody takedown of Hannibal Lecter. Graham is pulled into the hunt for The Tooth Fairy and somehow the paths of Graham, The Tooth Fairy, and Lecter all converge. Manhunter is a great movie, although it is really dated when you watch it now and see William Peterson sporting a quasi-Miami Vice look. Red Dragon is a great movie as well, but it doesn't move and flow as well as Manhunter. Ed Norton plays Will Graham the way I would envision him from reading the book. Graham is haunted by the demons from his work, but he almost seems to take a sadistic satisfaction in the fact that he's able to get into the minds of some extreme psychopaths. I think Norton does a really good job of showing the fine line Graham walks between wanting to live a happy, quiet life with his family and being pulled at by a job he at the same time hates and loves. Ralph Fiennes seems to just go a bit overboard with the whole Tooth Fairy thing, but maybe he was trying to unleash some inner demons after he stared with J-Lo in "Maid in Manhattan." I've always thought ol' Ralph was a good actor, but in this movie it's almost as if he's trying to figure out whether he should play this role seriously or just off the wall dog mess crazy. The book and Manhunter focus more intently on The Tooth Fairy character, but Red Dragon opts to throw more focus on the whole Lecter aspect, which is to be understood considering they've made a couple hundred million dollars off Anthony Hopkins. Which that gets us to Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. Hopkins is a great actor, but you can tell he's a bit bored with the character. I'm not saying he does a bad job in this movie, but he lacks the sadistic glee he had in The Silence of the Lambs. I still think the guy from Super Troopers did a kick ass job as Hannibal in Manhunter, but Anthony Hopkins won a freakin' Oscar for this part and he plays a cannabilistic killer better than anyone else out there. Red Dragon is a good movie. It's way better than Hannibal, but not nearly as good as Silence of the Lambs. It's definitely worth checking out though if you're a fan of either or both of those movies. The movie moves pretty well, although there are a couple of scenes that do slow the action down a bit. As a whole, this is a four star movie despite some less than stellar acting from the bad guys.
Rating: 
Summary: "Wish I hadn't read the book first"
Review: Though the book was scary, and kept me reading, the movie lacked an edge. Ralph Fiennes is a great actor, the job he does in Shindlers List is phenomenol. His role in this movie is dismal. The book portrays a large, unattractive man with a bad speech impediment, caused by a cleft palette. This downfall in the movie single-handedly ruined it for me. Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter brilliantly as usual. If you like this movie, you would probably enjoy Manhunter. This is the original version of the same story, and actually follows the same story until the finale. The villain in Manhunter is much more believable than Fiennes, in my opinion. At any rate, Red Dragon is not as good as Hannibal, and definitely not as good as the cult classic, Silence of the Lambs.
Rating:
Summary: Another Taste of Evil
Review: This is by far one of the best movies I've ever seen. I have watched it many times since it appeared on DVD and I usually notice something each time that I didn't see before. Anthony Hopkins shines again. He is the best Hannibal there ever was or will be. I saw this movie because of my adoration of him, but I came away with the realization that this movie has no problem standing on its own. I gave this movie 5 stars because of the acting and the storyline. I'm not going to go on and on about the story behind Hannibal Lecter because most people have either seen or heard about Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. Red Dragon takes you back to the very beginning and you get to see how it all started. The dinner scene at the beginning is classic. Lecter is having dinner with some orchestra members and one of them is missing...then someone asks what they are eating that tastes so good. Lecter gets that look in his eyes and the whole audience knows what's going on. In Red Dragon, Lecter is asked to help Will Graham (Edward Norton) to track down another serial killer. The ending is great and there is a surprise near the end. Just when you think everything has come to a close and the problem is solved, watch out. Nothing is as it seems.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent entry in the Hannibal Lecter series; Hopkins is it
Review: This movie, based on the first "Hannibal Lecter" novel by Thomas Harris of the same name, stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, as Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter. With fine performances all around, by Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes (who does a particularly disturbing turn as a serial killer called the "Tooth Fairy" [but one you wouldn't want to visit you at night]), and Anthony Heald, as the arrogant Dr. Chilton, among others; it's Hopkins's chilling turn, as Dr. Lecter, that makes this movie work [if they'd gotten anyone else, it wouldn't have]. It's clever how they allude to the next movie by Ed Norton's reference to a young woman who wants to see Dr. Lecter, and Hopkin's says: "What's her name?" [Of course, it's Clarice Starling, to be played by Jodie Foster, in Silence Of The Lambs.] Excellent. A worthy entry in the series along with the two "sequels". Also worth a look, for a slightly different take on the first "Lecter" book, is Manhunter with William Petersen (now of C.S.I.)
Rating:
Summary: 4.0 out of 5
Review: After HANNIBAL, the Hannibal legacy quited down it's reign of praise for a while. RED DRAGON is the next of the Lecter legacy, although chronologically the first; it follows retired FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton), who is called back to action help track down a serial killer (Ralph Fiennes) who is more than he seems; at the same time, he enlists the aid of Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), whom Graham imprisoned years before. Norton leaves an excellent first impression on me; Fiennes is great and brings much more sympathy to the character than Ted Levine did in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS; Hopkins is, of course, excellent. There is a great score by Danny Elfman, and surprisingly terrific directing by RUSH HOUR's Brett Ratner. Scripted by Ted Tally, who adapts the novel so well that it serves as an example for adaptations everywhere. Hannibal lovers, dispair not; writer Tally has also added in a larger part for Dr. Lecter than in the novel. Thomas Harris' best-selling novel was previously adapted in the much inferior MANHUNTER in 1986.
Rating:
Summary: Well done, second best in the trilogy...
Review: So close to being as good or even better than silence of the lambs. The book was the best in the series but the movie fell just short. It wasn't the actors' fault, Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal Lecter better than anybody could have ever dreamed of and Edward Norotn and Ralph Fiennes are always tailor made for their roles. It just seemed to lack the creepiness of the book. If they would have spent a little more time with the killer like the book did I think it would have been a much better movie. However it is still a good thriller that will have you sleeping with the lights on. Of course that is just my opnion, I could be wrong.
Rating:
Summary: JUST WATCH IT!!!
Review: I WAS A LITTLE HESITANT TO WATCH THIS MOVIE AT FIRST, BUT THEN SEEING ALL THE GREAT ACTORS IN IT, THERE HAD TO BE A GREAT SCRIPT, WELL THERE IS, IT COULD'VE GONE A LITTLE DEEPER, BUT THIS FILM LEADS VERY NICELY TO "SILENCE OF THE LAMBS." DEFINITE RENTAL/THEN DECIDE ON THE DVD!
Rating: 
Summary: A limp, half-hearted effort
Review: I was happy to hear about this remake even though I am a long-time fan of MANHUNTER and totally love the original Thomas Harris novel, RED DRAGON. I had good expectations for it, as I like Ed Norton from other movies such as Fight Club, and was looking forward to Anthony Hopkins reprising his Hannibal Lecter role. What a disapointment! This film is just absolutely juiceless, half-hearted and made for the "bucks." This was a great opportunity to make a film closer to the novel's intent. While Manhunter is a stylish 80s take on the story, the script deviated seriously from the novel and left many details out. Some reviewers hear mention such things as the Blake painting, the Red Dragon tattoo, Dolarhyde's sad backstory, THE ENDING, etc. I would like to add to that what I think is the most important lack in BOTH film versions -- the novel "Red Dragon" is a tragedy, and depicts Will Graham's emotional deterioration, the breakup of his marriage to Molly, estrangement from his stepson Willy and his slide into alchoholism and depression. It does NOT end happily with Will and Molly reunited at their expensive beach home (a simple beach shack in the novel), but has Will mutilated for life and almost killed. If either of this films had the guts to tell that part of the story, instead of being solely inanmored of the police work, serial murders etc., then that would have been one hell of a truly great film and the definitive version. RED DRAGON is a shameless waste of some talented actors and a big budget to make a lame movie that has no originality or point of view. Ed Norton sleepwalks through this, and I am especially disappointed in what are ordinarily talented people -- Harvey Keitel! Emily Watson! Ralph Fiennes! Phillip Seymour Hoffman! -- who make no impression at all. The script is boring and lame, despite attempts to include more material from the book. such as a "prequel" to the story that shows Will Graham being attacked by Dr. Lecter (even this, they can't stick to the story properly and make all kinds of unnecessary changes, such as having Dr. Lecter shot full of arrows!) Other annoying additions include Dr. Lecter tricking the FBI into providing him with a fancy gourmet catered dinner in his cell. And as stated earlier, an "invented" happy ending showing Will and Molly reconciled at their luxurious beach mansion. Manhunter was at least an honest, high-style, suspenseful attempt to tell this story, with nice visuals and a good 80s techno-rock score...Red Dragon is a big piece of nothing. Do yourself a really big favor and READ THE BOOK.
Rating:
Summary: '' why did you write lies, mr. lounds ? ''
Review: can anyone truly deny the superiority of this over ''manhunter'' ?( william peterson being the exception- the perfect will graham, in my opinion. ) this one will always suffer by comparison ONLY by the misfortune of being the 2nd adaptation of the great t. harris book. noonan was great, but missed key character elements of dolarhyde- i suppose the fault is mainly michael mann's, which is puzzling, since he is a great filmmaker at times ( HEAT, for instance ) - but how can you justify the exclusion of the tattoo and mythology of ' the dragon ',not to mention that old nursing home? this is who francis dolarhyde IS: he dosen't see himself ' loved and accepted ' by those women, he only see's what they can do for him in ' the becoming '. of course there is a deep need for francis to be loved, and it's clearly stated in the book that reba is the only one to ever get close to him and live. by the time he is fully in the dragon persona, all such considerations are moot- it's then all about achieving power through that embodiment. ralph fiennes captured that dynamic perfectly- the switch from francis to the dragon. in turn, emily watson is something to behold in her portrayal of reba- with her wide eyes blind to the danger she is in- the audience truly fears for her when she is alone with him, because we by then have seen what the dragon is capable of. hoffman is perfect as lounds, and the key scene involving him and the dragon is one of the most frightening and powerful things ever comitted to film. if i could improve upon greatness, i would replace norton with will peterson- but norton does a decent job, so little complaint there. all in all, a well made film of a truly great book- couldn't ask for more.
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