Hannibal (2001)
2h 11m | PG-13
After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.
Director: Ridley Scott
Studio: The De Laurentiis Company
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Video: 720p
Cast
Anthony Hopkins
as Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Julianne Moore
as Clarice M. Starling
Gary Oldman
as Mason Verger
Ray Liotta
as Paul Krendler
Giancarlo Giannini
as Insp. Renaldo Pazzi
Zeljko Ivanek
as Dr. Cordell Doemling
Reviews
Certainly the weakest of the Anthony Hopkins _Hannibal_ movies. Having read the books before I watched the movies, that actually does sort of track, as the first two books were better than the third. Even so, I actually think _Hannibal_ does the worst job of adapting the source material too. Looks pretty good and there's quite the cast list (although I don't think many of them are exactly giving career-defining performances here), Julianne Moore is fine as Clarice Starling (although not as good as Jodie Foster), and the story isn't **bad**, but if I'm being honest, I typically give this one a skip whenever I'm revisiting the Lecter mythos. _Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._
As sequals go, this isn't a bad one - but somehow we are a bit more sanitised to the evil of Sir Anthony Hopkins' "Hannibal Lecter" in this; and Julianne Moore doesn't quite have the intensity of Jodie Foster as FBI agent "Clarice". The story is also a bit too contrived: Millionaire Gary Oldman ("Verger") tries to use "Clarice" to lure, for motives of revenge, "Lecter" out from his secret existence as a museum curator in Florence. Once she discovers where he is, she alerts the carabinieri to keep an eye on him; one of whom quite fancies the reward so tries to take matters into his own hands... Hopkins returns to the US with only one aim in mind, and a cunning game of cerebral chess ensues. It comes across as more of a compendium of short stories rather than as a flowing narrative; there is still plenty of gruesomeness, but without the subtlety - the script isn't at all sophisticated; and though there is plenty of classical music trying to replicate some of the class of "Silence of the Lambs" (1991) it just doesn't quite work. It's a good enough effort, but just lacks that je ne sais quoi.