Manhunter

Rating:
Summary: F-O-C-U-S !!!
Review: I normally don't write reviews regarding movies. I think people should see a flick and decide it's value for themselves. However, I think the movie "Manhunter" is an outstanding movie. Five stars. Buy it! DON'T BUY the Director's Cut. The entire second disk is fuzzy / out of focus. It's really annoying and a waste of your money. The extra included material is not worth the extra money it will cost you!

Rating:
Summary: a great 2-disc set for devoted fans of this film
Review: i've always been a big fan of this very underrated film so it's great to see Anchor Bay finally assemble the proper tribute to Michael Mann's truly intense, absorbing film.

disc one features a fantastic THX certified version of the film that actually features some of the scenes included in the Director's Cut! which begs the question, why didn't they just add all the extra footage and clean it up? at any rate, it is just great to see this film cleaned up and shown in its proper aspect ratio.

the 2 featurettes, included on this disc, are also excellent -- in particular the 18 minute retrospective featuring William Petersen, Brian Cox, Tom Noonan and Joan Allen. some great behind-the-scenes anecdotes here -- essential viewing for any fan of this film and of Michael Mann's other work.

disc two isn't really as bad as most are claiming. of course, i'm watching it on a high end TV and DVD player so maybe it doesn't seem that bad to me because of this. it is quite watchable and well worth a look for any hardcore devotee of the film. basically, this is the Cable TV version that Video Watchdog wrote about a few years ago.

the only real quibble i have with this set is that i really wish they could've gotten Mann to sit down a do an audio commentary with the cast. obviously, they got most of the principles back for the featurette... why couldn't they have gotten them to do a cast commentary? oh well...

Rating:
Summary: I don't know what movie everyone else is watching, but...
Review: Manhunter was a pretty poor film, in my opinion, nowhere even CLOSE to Silence of the Lambs. Regardless, the DVD is worse. The cinematography is beautiful, and the scenes are well shot, but the director's cut on DVD is atrocious. It looks like a 5th generation copy from a TV show, not the crystal-clear picture I'm used to on a DVD. I'm a director's-cut fanatic, and this is the WORST director's cut I've ever seen (it makes my ?th generation director's cut of Alien look GORGEOUS). To top it all off, the editing is choppy and uneven, with dialogue and music abruptly ending. And of course, the horribly-cheesy ending is still just as horribly cheesy. This is not a direct attack on the film itself, but the DVD production. I wouldn't pay $5 for this. Please, please, PLEASE, save your money! Or get the VHS tape. Just don't buy this.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, better than Silence of the Lambs
Review: It may not be as "Hollywood" as Silence, but it is certainly a better movie. This is how a psychological thriller is supposed to be made. Good performances, especially by Petersen, Cox and Noonan make this film rise above the more popular Silence of the Lambs. Now Lambs is a very good movie and I did like the performances but the only area where its better than Manhunter is budget. Thats about it. If you want big budget over quality, Silence is better. If you want quality, Manhunter is better, although not hugely better. Both are fine films.

Rating:
Summary: The Original "Profiler"
Review: When I was working at a national video chain in 1991, people came in asking if "Silence of the Lambs" was out on videotape. At that time I told them no, but if they wanted the "prequel" to check out "Manhunter." To me, this was on par, with "Silence."

In "Manhunter," we are introduced to the forensic area of psychological profiling of a serial killer. We see the results of what happens when one of these profilers gets too close to the mind of Hannibal Lektor/Lector. While it might not be as accurate as "Silence of the Lambs," (John Douglass of the FBI's Behavioral Crime Unit was an advisor), it still has all the makings of a great crime film.

Because of the director (Michael Mann), it's got '80's written all over it. From the glitz to the art shots so prevalent in "Miami Vice." But sometimes it's great to have a little reminder of what we used to watch twenty years ago! The soundtrack was interesting, although I thought that it got in the way of some of the dialog.

Brian Cox was great as Hannibal. While he isn't portrayed as the sociopath that we have all grown to love in "Silence," he is, however resourceful and highly intelligent. In comparing Cox and Hopkin's portrail of Hannibal, I thought that both were actually downplayed. In either of these films, Hannibal could have been made into an over the top evil villian, but both Mann and Demme looked to have their actors subdue the roles, which I think makes them much more menacing.

My only negative comment regarding this movie (or should we call it the Hannibal Trilogy), is that we never see the capture of Lector. There are a few loose ends that could have been tied up, but otherwise a great movie to own and watch. It's one of those movies that you can pick things up in each time you watch it. Now, if only Harris would write a prequel to the prequel...

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I saw this movie when it first came out and I thought it was great, I can't believe people on here saying it stinks. 1...if you like thrillers, 2...if you like a good movie with scares, 3....if you like a well done movie rent this, buy this, just see it. In the sense of silence of the lambs? Well its different actors and a different director and its a DIFFERENT MOVIE! Yet the over-all plot like Silence is the same, a cop hunting a serial killer and yes there is a Hannibal Lector in this one. Silence of the lambs was the sequel, as Hannibal will be yet another sequel. If possible, you shoud see Manhunter first, then Silence of the Lambs and then Hannibal. Bottom line, if you are a big fan of Silence of the Lambs, you'll like Manhunter, just keep in mind that Anthony Hopkins is not in Manhunter, but his character is and it is done with the same fine acting, I myself am planning on buying Manhunter on DVD, just realized that it was released on dvd.

Rating:
Summary: Before there was SILENCE, there was MANHUNTER
Review: This is a very entertaining, disturbing and stylish thriller which preceded SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by a number of years and first introduced Hannibal Lecter to the cinema. I first heard of MANHUNTER in a video store. Strolling down the aisle I could hear the movie on the monitor, but couldn't see it. The soundtrack and dialog alone gave me the willies, and the clerk was talking about how the movie kept her up at night. I took the movie home and was treated to an exciting, suspenseful, and highly involving tale of the hunt for a ver-r-ry unpleasant serial killer nicknamed the Tooth Fairy.

William Petersen, an engaging and seasoned actor, plays a retired investigator who left the force after getting to close to such a criminal and getting viciously carved up for his trouble. His former boss, played by Dennis Farino, comes to see him one day with a plea for his help in finding a new serial murderer who is butchering whole families in their bedrooms. Petersen reluctantly takes the case, visits the crime scenes and interviews an institutionalized madman named Hannibal Lecter, both to get the sick mind set back and to ask Hannibal for help with clues (much as the Jodi Foster character does in the later film). The Petersen character's own post-traumatic stress makes his commitment all the more admirable as he helps the cops make headway toward an understanding of the twisted motives and methods of the new killer.

Enlisting the help of a tabloid journalist who meets his end in an exclusive visit with the deranged killer that I guarantee you'd never want to experience, Petersen finally connects with the killer only to realize that he may be too late to stop the next ugly stage of the rampage.

In an edge-of-your-seat extended climactic sequence that will have you appreciating the long version of "Inna-gadda-da-vida" in a whole new way, Petersen and some unfortunate cops finally bear down on the Tooth Fairy even as the serial killer crouches over his next victim like a huge spider.

Michael Mann has been a highly respected director since the 70s, directing James Caan in the star vehicle THIEF and inventing the high-style runaway hit MIAMI VICE on television. This movie's dark and intimate style complements the story and works just fine, and all the cast is quite good. Hannibal Lecter is a stand-out as played by Brian Cox, giving us two fine performances of the Lecter character to enjoy. Cox's Lecter is just as cool and calculating, a mad genius who gets fan mail from the Tooth Fairy and plots to reveal the whereabouts of Petersen's family to him in return. There is no need to take sides between SILENCE and MANHUNTER. Thankfully, MANHUNTER is an excellent interpretation in its own right, and a worthy book end and enhancement to the fine job done on SILENCE. In some ways, the Tooth Fairy is more gruesome and more fully rendered than Buffalo Bill, and Tom Noonan is absolutely creepy throughout, every bit as ghastly a villain as any I can remember, including the weirdo in the first DIRTY HARRY movie.

Never mind the small minority which doesn't get this film, and see it for yourself. It is a compelling treat of a ride, and we are lucky to have this good a film companion to SILENCE. There would have been no special edition DVD with a director's cut and extended commentary if this were not a film appreciated by many.

Rating:
Summary: Closer To The Novel's Version of Dr. Lecter
Review: This film presents an alternative version of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the cannibal serial-murder psychiatrist. Anthony Hopkins gave entirely his own spin on this character in "Silence Of The Lambs." I like both interpretations of Dr. Lecter. This is a gripping story, holding you on the edge of your seat throughout but this time having a photo developing link rather than a dressmaking link to the pursuit of the other serial killer. William Petersen is utterly believable as an FBI agent. Although he lacks the magnetism of Jodie Foster as an FBI agent, I assume real life FBI agents are closer to the way Petersen plays one. Don't continue to compare though. Just enjoy both interpretations of the FBI vs. Dr. Lecter.

Rating:
Summary: I'm sorry.
Review: Blame it on the Eighties, but I had a hard time taking this film seriously. From the hilarious hairdos (all of the men sport permed new-wave haircuts) to the post-modern interiors, this film reminds me of the 80's style that only exsisted on cable television. The Southern accents are embarrasing and the music is painful. Maybe I wanted too desperately to join the group of people who proclaim this film "superior to the Silence of the Lambs." Unless they like it in a Plan 9 From Outer Space kind of way.

Rating:
Summary: This is a solid movie
Review: I am usually happy just lurking in the background and only offer an opinion when I think that people are missing something special (I've only done one other Amazon review.)

But I have read some reviews of this movie that are way off the mark. For example, "What's with all the 80s rock music." I, too, couldn't figure out why 80s music would show up in an 80s movie. I was angry when 70s music showed up in "Harold and Maude" (1971). And, well, when 60s music showed up in "The Graduate" (1967), I almost turned the movie off because I was so horrified. Laugh out loud!

I rewatched the DVD last night to make sure that I was not forgetting some "Oingo Boingo" tune, and I was not--there were only a couple of real songs in the movie (one, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was released in the 60's) and most of the movie was backgrounded with the suspenseful instrumental music that the reviewer was looking for. This same type of music shows up in the 90s movie "Heat" (also a Mann flick & worth checking out in my opinion.)

And then others are making fun of the script when compared to Silence of the Lambs? Please. In Manhunter, Hannibal is in a real prison where he is sealed in a private cell. The bars are covered with glass and he has to turn his back when the guards place anything through the little opening in his cell. In Silence, the mass murderers get to hang out in dimly lit cells where they are free to throw items between the bars. In Silence, Hannibal cuts off a person's face and uses it to escape. Sure, if I had a nickel every time I saw this happen in real life.....

Is Manhunter perfect? No. The editing is not the best and some of the wrinkles were not ironed out of the story (I, too, wish the detective had not talked as much to himself when figuring things out.) But Manhunter overcomes these minor annoyances to deliver an enjoyable and believable thriller about the FBI trying to catch a serial killer. It does this without exploiting the subject matter so that even the faint of heart can watch.

Next, Manhunter delivers two of the best performances that I have seen in any movie. Brian Cox does an outstanding job as Hannibal and Tom Noonan is spectacular as "The Tooth Fairy." I came across Tom Noonan in an episode of the X-files and I stopped what I was doing to watch (even though I am not a huge X-files fan) because his role/performance ten years earlier in Manhunter was that good. This is the highest praise that I can give any actor.

The quality of the DVD transfer is not great, so I'd suggest that you can save yourself a couple of dollars and just buy the video instead. If you enjoy these mystery/thriller type movies, then you should enjoy Manhunter.