Manhunter

Rating:
Summary: Clearly Superior!
Review: Manhunter is so far ahead of 'Silence of the Lames'...oops I meant 'Lambs' and 'Hannibal' that it's ridiculous!

When I went to the theater and saw 'Silence' I thought it was a comedy. I laughed throughout.

I remember I completely gave up on the Academy Awards when it was not only nominated but won best picture.

I LOVE Anthony Hopkins. He is one of my favorite actors on earth.....BUT he is not nor ever was what Hannibal Lector was intended to be. Who, in their right mind, would visit a doctor like Anthony Hopkins as Lector? The way Hopkins delivers all of his dialogue as Lector........well it's obvious you are dealing with an absolute lunatic!

Brian Cox is the only true Hannibal Lector as done in Manhunter. Quiet and reserved and extremely more intellectual than Hopkins interpretation. Brian also portrayed a much more frightening subtle Lector with far less screen time than Hopkins! Hopkins Lector was seen as a superhuman serial killer that belongs more in science fiction than in a deeply more disturbing psychological thriller such as "Manhunter."

I think Edward Norton is one of our greatest American actors alive! He IS NOT Will Graham! He is miscast in Red Dragon. William Peterson IS Will Graham!

"Silence" and "Hannibal" are complete and total 'Hollywood' versions of Harris's novels. Although "Red Dragon" may be more true to the novel than "Manhunter"......'Manhunter' is infinitely FAR superior to the other movie versions of Harris's
novels.

'Manhunter' is the finest movie about the serial killer/detective genre there will ever be! All others will be measured against it. Even 'Seven' can't compete with it, as good as it was.

Micheal Mann has made an American classic with this film which I feel will never be surpassed.

Rating:
Summary: Stuck In The 80's
Review: The viewing audience was first introduced to the world of Hannibal Lecter in this 1986 film. It is not as informative about
Lecter as in "Silence", nor do we really see much of the character at all. Blink and you just might miss the character entirely. Michael Mann("Ali") directed this film based on Thomas Harris' 1981 book "Red Dragon". The film stars William Petersen("CSI") as Will Graham, an ex-FBI agent who retired when Lecter almost kills him. He captures Lecter and resigns. He is pulled out of retirement when a serial killer is on the loose. The killer is named Francis Dollarhyde(Played with incredible creepiness by Tom Noonan), who goes by the name 'The Tooth Fairy', and slaughters entire families. Will is called on the case but realizes he needs more help. He goes to Lecter to try to get the brillaint, but mad, psychiatrist to help him track down the killer. Same kind of format as "Silence", but nowhere near as good or thrilling. Brian Cox plays Hannibal Lecter here, and he is quite good. It's a different performance. I can't say he was average, but I also can't say that he was anywhere near superb enough to make anyone remember. He did his own thing and he did it very well. I never got any chills from him. I was never brought to believe him as a dangerous madman. Anthony Hopkins gave all that to me before he even opened his mouth. Cox is good, but he's not Hopkins. William Petersen has always been a fine actor, and he really carries this film. If it wasn't for him, this movie would of floundered. Tom Noonan is a great bad guy. It doesn't hurt that he has a creepy look to him. He is more scary and chilling than Cox. The film also stars Joan Allen as a blind co-worker of Dollarhyde's that he takes a liking too. She just might wind up as his next victim. The movie looks okay, but it was made in 1986 and it LOOKS like it was made in 1986. It could pass for a bigger budgeted episode of "Miami Vice" or something. When certain parts look like that, it's hard to take the film as serious as you should. Whereas "Silence" can stand the test of time, this movie can't. It seems too glossy to sustain the script's darker, edgier material. Even though the look is dated and somewhat cheesy, it is still shot well. The movie was known for not being entirely truthful to the book. What film adaption of a book is?. Something is always changed or taken out. For all it's worth, "Manhunter" is a enjoyable, passable thriller, but it is not anything that has the caliber of "Silence", or the longevity of a first rate thriller. I can't even begin to understand how some people can rate this film above "Silence". Ridiculous. People have mentioned they laughed at "Silence" and thought it was a comedy. Raises some eyebrows and makes you wonder what fantasy world these people are in. Let's hope the new re-make, "Red Dragon", finally does the book and the story justice. I think it will.

Rating:
Summary: Very Much Overlooked And Underrated
Review: Maybe it isn't as good as 'Silence of the Lambs', but the story is engrossing, the performances are respectable and mostly believable, and the dialog and action are, for the most part, realistic. Though detective Will Graham's (played by William Peterson) spoken streams of consciousness sometimes seem incongruous, and Brian Cox's portrayal of Hannibal only closely approaches that of Anthony Hopkins' in 'Silence of the Lambs', this film is quite good and certainly deserves more recognition and acclaim than 'Hannibal' or even 'Red Dragon'. Of course, the soundtrack is "very 80's" - the movie was released in 1986, afterall. Frankly, I think the music chosen for this film suits it very well. Much of it is eerie and beautiful at the same time. The filming has the same qualities - the imagery is creepy, yet stunning. See this film. If you don't expect a rehash of 'Silence of the Lambs' or an unswerving translation of the Thomas Harris novel, you will be entertained.

Rating:
Summary: A very creepy villain
Review: First the cons:
William Petersen's performance is weepy and hamlike. The set design is very "Miami Vice" as someone else observed. Director Mann leaves out the museum robbery scene (which I can't believe!) and he changes the ending for the worse. Some of the music is very dated.

The Pros:
Tom Noonan as "Dolarhyde" the killer is a perfectly creepy villain, recognizable and yet incomprehensible...a very sick person. The Lecter character is just as good or better than as played by Hopkins, although I'm sure Hopkins gets a lot more screen time in the remake. The use of In-a-gadda-da-vida is an excellent choice as the theme for mayhem. See it.

Rating:
Summary: Oh, Was This Movie Supposed To Be From "Red Dragon"?
Review: Alright, I admit it. I read the book and fell in love with it. So, when the, so called, movie version of it came out, I was the first one in line to see it. Like the Anne Rice fans that have trouble with the movie versions of her books, I had the same problems with Manhunter.
Let's start out with the positives, just to show that there's no hard feelings. Brian Cox was a brilliant casting choice. Most of the rest of the casting was done fairly well too, except for Tom Noonan. -Don't get me wrong, this man is a brilliant actor and he WAS very creepy in the movie.
- What was lost in the casting of Noonan, as well as a lapse in judgement in the screenwriting, was that Dolarhyde was supposed to look fairly normal, muscular even. It was his early childhood that twisted his mind into thinking he was a physically hideous monster that people couldn't stand to look at.
Just as in real life, it was this contrasting aspect of the book that was the real hooker. Your neighborhood, average looking Joe turns out to be the serial killer of the century. - While in the movie, one look at Noonan and it was no shocker that this mug was the family killer. On top of that, they made him look like some pathetic Disco Strangler!
The movie held little, or no, suspense.The pacing was bogged and boring and the cinematography was too "Miami Vice", yes, I know it was Mike Mann who directed it but...

Let's hope the 2002 version redeems the vision of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Who's the best on-screen Hannibal Lecter?
Review: I remember when Manhunter was first released in theaters over 15 years ago. A college buddy turned me on to the novel "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris and it mesmerized me. I was so excited about the prospect of seeing it on the big screen. I don't think the movie made that much of a splash; Thomas Harris wasn't nearly the icon he is today, and doing away with the name "Red Dragon" probably didn't help either.

The movie is absolutely wonderful. William Peterson does a fantastic job as Will Graham (the man who put Hannibal Lecter behind bars) and Dennis Farina is simply brilliant as Jack Crawford (Graham's boss, later played by John Glenn in "The Silence of the Lambs"). The chemistry between these two characters is among the finest you will see. I have seen this movie many times and I still get chills when Graham solves the mystery during a heated argument with Crawford. You must see it!

Brian Cox does an admirable job at playing Hannibal Lecter. His (and Michael Mann's) interpretation is far different from Anthony Hopkins' (and Jonathan Demme's) version, but in many ways Cox is better. His scenes are limited, yet over-powering. He is much closer to the character created by Thomas Harris.
His quite confidence and condescending nature bely his true nature; when he is sitting on his cell bunk, you sense that in a split-second, he can spring like a cat and be on you before you even knew he had gotten up.

Anyway, this movie is not about Lecter so much as it is Graham and Crawford. Even the killer (the Tooth Fairy, well-portrayed by Tom Noonan, probably most famous for playing one of Rodney Dangerfield's sidekicks in Easy Money) plays second fiddle to the mystery that Crawford drags Graham into. My biggest complaint of the movie is that it completely ignores the Tooth Fairy's past (the novel devoted quite a few pages to the killer's childhood, explaining the root of his evil).

The ending may disappoint hardcore Thomas Harris fans (but not as much as the movie version Hannibal probably did), but it does work for the screen. The soundtrack is among the best and most appropriate you will hear.

I am writing this review on the eve of the release of "Red Dragon" in theaters. I will be curious to see how it matched up to the original. It will be difficult to match the artistry of "Manhunter." Edward Norton plays Graham in the new version and, even though he is a terrific actor, I just can't see anyone doing a better job than William Peterson of bringing the character to life on the big screen.

Rating:
Summary: Far Too Intelligent for the Average Viewer
Review: Manhunter was by far too intelligent for the average movie viewer to understand or appreciate. Michael Mann's direction is very understated, and these so called pointless sequences featuring Will Graham speaking to himself require a lot more depth of thought than most people would like to apply to a movie. Silence of the Lambs appealed to a more generic movie audience with its completely in your face visuals and obvious explanations of events. A perfect example of Mann's directing style is the sequence with Graham seeing one of the murdered women awash in white light in the bedroom with her eyes emanating that same light while he is speaking to himself. If you haven't read the book you won't know what I'm talking about at all, but if you have, you'll realize what Mann is trying to show viewers without hitting them over the head with it. Most people are too lazy or just can't enjoy a movie unless everything is explained in clear detail to them. Silence of the Lambs did that which is why it was a more successful film. Manhunter on the other hand requires you to think and interpret the scenes put to film which is why it is an incredible movie and better than Silence of the Lambs.

Rating:
Summary: An Overlook stroke of brilliance or Ying&Yang of Lector
Review: Michael Mann (Miami Vice director and a perfection in the Hitchcock school of doing some of the camera work yourself) shows the visions from the same source material can be so different. Manhunter is from the Thomas Harris Book 'Red Dragon' the prequel, if you will, to the Silence of the Lambs, also by Harris. It is so interesting to view both films together and see the contrasts. Manhunter has a male, William Petersen, as FBI's fey tracker, while Lamb's focus is female through Jody Foster. Lambs is so dark, brooding and dank, you think of bad 1950's mad scientist movies, while Manhunter is blinding awash in light. Compare the cells of the different version of Lector. Hopkins is house in a madhouse basement, where shadows are deep and bogeymen lurk just out of sight...Brian Cox's lector is in a pure white cell, white pants and TV shirt, so clean and sterile it evokes the slightly nauseating sense of antiseptic hospitals. Hopkins' keeper is the kindly blackman, Benny; Cox's 'step back or I'll mace you in the face' redneck. The polarisation of these films is nearly endless, and yet both are so on target in achieving their aim.

Which do I prefer? Hard to say, but I think in repeated watching that Manhunter edges out Lambs. Mann 'paints' his movie in imagery that is so evocative, so compelling, but in a less is more manner that cause many to put him down as all style but no substance. I have never bought that. Anyone can watch "Evan" episode of Miami Vice or "Out Where the Buses Don't Run" and see there are so many layers to a Mann production - but it is for YOU to find the many textures and nuances. If you don't, it's your loss.

Manhunter just get better and better with age, and is a sheer treat on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Miami Vice with psychopaths
Review: This was the original movie adaptation of Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon." With Peterson and Farina, this was a good movie, but under the direction of Michael Mann, the colors and scenes screamed "Miami Vice." This is not a bad thing, but if you saw "Silence of the Lambs" first with its dark, foreboding colors, then this will seem as a shock. Hannibal Lector is not as spooky in a well-lit, white cell.

The center of the story is the former FBI agent who is brought back to find the newest psychopathic, serial killer, the Tooth Fairy. He must get into the mindset of the killer to stop him. This has happened before when he caught Dr. Lector. From that episode, he had trouble getting out of the mindset. Throughout the movie, you see him fighting to maintain who he is. It is a good movie.

I would recommend seeing this before seeing the new movie "Red Dragon."

Rating:
Summary: Michael Mann has rarely been better
Review: Slick and well done. Brian Cox potrays Hannibal Lektor(spelling taken from the original novel) with sinister grit. But the show belongs to William Peterson, whose acting is top-notch. So convincing was his acting that the flow of the story was loads better that of the Thomas Harris novel. Trust me, if you have seen Red Dragon and would like to see a movie that totally outdoes the book, watch this. And after that cherish it.