The Western Concept

by Josh Nichols

With the recent release of Hannibal Rising I thought it would be a grand feast to take a journey through the cinematic history of Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter.  I’ve yet to see the freshest prequel to the legacy, but the anticipation is building.  So dish up the fava beans, pour the Chianti, and prepare for an oh-so succulent cut of liver review.

Let us start our journey with the first film to feature the infamous doctor, Manhunter.  If you thought Silence of the Lambs was the first appearance of the good doctor you are sadly mistaken.  Fear not my children; the 1986 movie was mediocre at best.  Anthony Hopkins is also nowhere to be seen in this flick, because Dr. Lecter is played by Brian Cox (The Ringer, X2, Super Troopers).  As a movie reviewer, I pride myself on being able to place myself in the shoes of an originally intended viewer of a film.  I try to remove preconceived notions and look at each film as its own entity.  I will be entirely honest; I saw Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal before I saw Manhunter.  Now that I have come clean let me tell you about Manhunter.  I found the film boring.  It seemed to be lacking overall.  Probably most unfortunate of the films shortcomings is the lack of Dr. Lecter.  Some may argue that the focus of Manhunter is, in fact, not Dr. Lecter.  I must challenge this statement because Red Dragon: The Curse of Hannibal Lecter and Red Dragon: The Pursuit of Hannibal Lecter were some of the draft titles for the film.  Cox is a good actor who has over a hundred film and TV appearances, but his character in Manhunter was not developed very well.  Those expecting a sinister yet suave Lecter in this film will be disappointed.  The most dastardly deed conjured up by Dr. Lector is his heinous act of using a gum wrapper to trip a phone to dial the operator.  This chilling moment will haunt my dreams for years to come.  I have read many reviewers who swear that Brian Cox is, was, and always will be Hannibal Lecter.  Perhaps his small role leads me to question his quality, but either way I would not place this at the top of Mr. Cox’s career.  The basic premise of Manhunter is the same as that of its remake (I use this term loosely) Red Dragon.  Agent Will Graham (William Peterson) is persuaded out of his career hiatus after nearly being murdered by Dr. Lecter.  Graham is the detective responsible for the capture of Hannibal, but he must now battle his past when he confronts Lector for advice on a new case.  Bottom line, if you are a fan of Thomas Harris’ books, Brian Cox, or have a couple hours to kill I would recommend you watch this movie.  If you are looking to be entertained or expecting cinematic greatness, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

Next on our journey is Silence of the Lambs.  This film is at minimum in my top 500 list.  It’s a must see for all fans of the series, genre, or good films in general.  I consider Silence of the Lambs to be a new beginning for Dr. Lecter, which is played by Anthony Hopkins.  The movie wasn’t advertised as a sequel to Manhunter, and in fact Manhunter probably wouldn’t be known to so many if it weren’t for the profitability that was obvious to be gained from re-releasing the film parallel to the release of Hannibal and Red Dragon.  Anyway, by new beginning I mean something similar to the Batman series.  Batman Begins was a re-invention of the 1989 thru 1997 Batman films, which following suite is a re-invention of the 1966 class starring Adam West.  Silence of the Lambs starts the Hannibal Lecter legacy for me.  The main focus of the film, as compared to Manhunter, is Hannibal himself.  Dr. Lecter truly becomes a cult icon in this film.  He is smooth, suave, and sophisticated.  Personally, I sympathize with Dr. Lecter at times.  He is obviously unstable, and he obviously is doing immoral acts, but I find myself cheering for him when he takes out a less-than-polite excuse for a human.  This deep moral dilemma heightens with the movie Hannibal, because the doctor’s antics are more and more associated with rude victims.  If you understand what I’m saying then…hurray, but if you see no silver lining in Hannibal’s rampages then possibly check out Showtime’s new series Dexter…hopefully the feeling may overcome you then.  Similar to Manhunter and Red Dragon, Dr. Lecter’s advice is once again sought out.  This time, an up and coming FBI agent, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), seeks the doctor’s knowledge.  Hannibal takes a liking to agent Starling, and begins playing a game of sorts with her.  The movie is a suspenseful joyride of cinematic goodness.  I assure you there is an abundance of quality plot in this movie, though I won’t give anymore of it away.  The ending to Silence of the Lambs is one of the top twist endings in all of filmdom.  Surprise endings, and twists and turns have become a commodity in Hollywood.  Without a maze of plot changes and character curve balls, suspense movies wouldn’t make a dime in today’s industry.  Silence of the Lambs on the other hand produces a genuine, classic shock ending.  I would compare its shock value to the conclusion of the original Planet of the Apes.  This genre of film is not for everyone, but I feel this movie is a must-see for anyone with a pulse. 

I will take some care in not spoiling the plot of our next destination, Hannibal.  In a nutshell, this is the official sequel to Silence of the Lambs that continues the awkward yet compelling interaction between Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) and Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore).  I’m sure you caught that subtle heartache.  You saw correctly, Julianne Moore replaces Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in Hannibal.  Now I wouldn’t consider myself an avid fan of Jodie Foster, but there are few things I hate more than when a character is replaced with a new actor/actress.  It becomes extremely difficult to maintain a reasonable suspension of disbelief when a character completely changes appearance from one film to another.  That rant aside, on with the review.  This film was shot down by many reviewers in the past.  Some say it’s to boring, some say it’s to bloody, and some say it’s a film for profits sake.  I did find the film to be slow at times, but on the whole I enjoyed my experience.  The slow points in this film are comparable to those in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  The first time you watch Frodo travel his journey, everything is new.  Each time one views the film after that, one soon realizes some of the scenes that could have been left out, at least without the audience shedding tears (for me it was the excessive amount of Liv Tyler).  The first time you see Hannibal, the film can be taken in its entirety as a pleasant experience.  Watching it multiple times after that may encourage your brain to point out areas of minimal excitement.  As for gore, there were only a small percentage of scenes in the film with any blood at all.  Within that small percentage there isn’t even a large quantity of gore, but it is quality.  I despise reviewers who argue this film was produced to make a quick buck.  Hannibal was released in 2001, ten years after Silence of the Lambs.  If any film in this legacy was released for a quick buck it was Red Dragon; Red Dragon was hastily released about a year after Hannibal, and oddly enough received better reviews with less profit criticism than Hannibal.  As always, fans of Dr. Lecter or Thomas Harris should see this film.  More importantly, if you enjoyed Silence of the Lambs this film is a great follow-up.  I think this film pays great homage to the 1991 classic Silence of the Lambs.  And heck, in ten years or so maybe they will release a special edition with Jodie Foster’s head pasted over Julianne Moore’s.  One last item I must note about this film is Gary Oldman’s performance.  Gary Oldman is hands down one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood, and Hannibal is just another notch in his belt.  I highly anticipated this movie, and therefore I tried to shield myself from any spoilers.  In doing so, I went into the film unaware of Gary Oldman’s role.  At first glance I thought he played Inspector Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini).  I thought he either let himself go, or was very dedicated to looking older in the film.  In the middle of the movie I was immersed in the film and didn’t think very much about Gary Oldman (sinful I know).  It was only after the credits began to roll that I found he played Mason Verger.  This movie just gave me one more very good reason to idolize Gary Oldman. 

We are nearing the end of our adventure with the film Red Dragon.  As confusing as this may sound, Red Dragon is technically a remake of Manhunter and a prequel to Silence of the Lambs, but as mentioned before I see Silence of the Lambs as a re-invention to the series.  I think it is unjust to call Red Dragon a remake; I do think it is fair to consider it its own entity as well as a prequel to Silence of the Lambs.  This film has the same general plot as Manhunter, but it does a better job of giving back-story to Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins).  We generally see Hannibal as a suave almost calming person, but when confronted by his capturer he is not so friendly.  This is not my favorite of the Lecter films, but it greatly surpasses Manhunter, and also gives us enough back-story to want to see more (hmmm if it isn’t our old friend Mr. Quick Buck). 
 

The Hannibal Lecter legacy is among some of my favorite films of all time.  One suggestion I can give is to watch them in order: Manhunter (Optional), Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Red Dragon.  As for Hannibal Rising, it is hard for me to give a pre-judgment on the film.  It will be hard for me to not yearn for Anthony Hopkins during the duration of the film.  Hopefully it won’t be as bad as the yearning I had for Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels during Dumb and Dumberer.  Also, prequels to prequels are rare; in fact I’m at a loss to think of one off the top of my head.  Then there are the swarms of negative reviews already plaguing the internet.  Then again, when have I ever cared what someone else thinks?  I will be seeing Hannibal Rising, and for any fans of the series I suggest you do the same.  If it’s horrible, we can look backs on better days and complain about how they should have stopped while they were ahead.  On the other hand, if it’s good we can always cross our fingers that Anthony Hopkins will reprise his role one last time for the epic conclusion Hannibal 2.  Check back soon for my review of Hannibal Rising.