… in which the glorification of cruelty and gore become all, the subtleties of plot disappear and something much more evil than Lecter assaults our senses…
The Silence of the Lambs … for some reason, that book and film gripped the senses like few others had done previously, appealing to our deepest senses of loathing and disgust by giving us the most abominable of all villains, one who revelled in the darkest tabooes, yet did so with such impeccable taste, style and icy cool that we could not fail to be fascinated with a grim, inexplicable bloodlust.
Hannibal Lecter … the most evil man alive, all the more reprehensible because of the chill lack of emotion and enjoyment which he brought to his vocation. He seemed to do these things because he had to, and they were logical extensions of his life, rather than because he wanted to.
Somehow, the film ended with us hoping against hope that Lecter would continue with his blood lust, his insatiable pursuit of fear. It was not the flawed, vulnerable, corrupt forces of good which were our heroes, but the abominable monster of the night,
the invincible demon who at any time threatened to gobble you down whole, leaving only the nails behind to remind you.
The film relied for its popularity and watchability on the dangerous, sinister relationship between Lecter and his fear filled, but very committed quarry, the troubled FBI officer, Clarice Starling. The playing and relationship of Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster made that film and excited our senses. They were so very believable, in their twin images and reflections of a single personality, needing each other and yet ever so slightly repelled by the flaws each saw in the other.
After the awesome horror which was Lambs, with Lecter’s eventual escape from the arms of the law after assisting Starling to capture the real villain of the piece, Buffalo Bill, any sequel was bound to be less than universally revered. And so it is with Hannibal, the 2001 follow up, which sees the world’s favourite cannibal as the object of the hunt, ten years a fugitive.
In brief, Mason Verger (played unrecognisably by the real Prince of Darkness, Gary Oldman) is the sole victim of Lecter who was left alive, but paid a terrible price, being left horribly disfigured and in a wheelchair, with his life’s work the pursuit of revenge.
He attempts to manipulate Starling (now played by Julianne Moore) in his hunt, and has little compunction in conniving with the seedy FBI chief Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) to use Starling and leave her career in tatters so she is even more vulnerable and easy to use as live bait for Lecter. The entire story revolves around the manhunt and the twin evil peaks of Verger and Lecter, and we are strangely encouraged to sympathise with the vile, but sympathetically one dimensional, Lecter and pray that he gets the better of Hannibal’s real villain, Verger, and his partner in duplicity, Krendler.
There ain’t really much more to this whole black tale than that, and in reality what we have is a bloodthirsty celebration of gore and loathing. From start to finish, we are spared nothing in this pursuit of the reprehensible, with dogs and pigs consuming human flesh, a man eating his own brain and the disembowelling and hanging of one victim. Such gratuitous and vivid pleasure at violence and horror for its own sake is not entirely healthy, and the subtler shades of the first film are dispensed with absolutely. There is no psychological horror and loathing here, just the physical sort, where only the very basest actions will do.
Jonathan Demme and Jodie Foster were well advised to excuse themselves from proceedings. Ridley Scott has crafted a beautifully horrific film, but seems to revel in the blood for its own sake, while Julianne Moore is too self assured and strong to replace Foster in our mind’s eye. The Lecter-Starling relationship is only now the stage on which our story is set, and relegated to only a tool with which to shape our story.
It is odd that Hopkins agreed to appear, but Hannibal would be nothing without his genuinely chilling presence and cool rejection of all human weaknesses. There is little depth or true substance here, and Hopkins seems to have succumbed to playing to the lowest common denominator, giving the seething millions what they really want.
The gore in Hannibal is genuinely more than the viewer can really tolerate, or at least this viewer, and was all the more unpleasant because it seems only have been thrown in to titillate. I could have excused it if there was a need for it, or if there had been even the semblance of a genuinely compelling story, but this film is nothing but an excuse for stitching together a few snuff movie shots.
I could have done without it, and I assure you that so could you.
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Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Yes, he's back, and he's still hungry. Ten years afterThe Silence of the Lambs,Dr. ... more
Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins, reprising his Oscar-winning role) is living the good life in Italy, studying art and sipping espresso. FBI agent Clarice...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Ten Years have passed since FBI agent Clarice Starling faced the ingenious Dr. Hannibal ... more
Lecter...ten years of watching, wondering and waiting. But now the wait is over. The sophisticated killer re-emerges in Florence, Italy, ready to entice Clarice int...
Yes, he's back, and he's still hungry. Ten years afterThe Silence of the Lambs,Dr. ... more
Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins, reprising his Oscar-winning role) is living the good life in Italy, studying art and sipping espresso. FBI agent Clarice...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Ten years have passed since FBI agent Clarice Starling faced the ingenious Dr. Hannibal ... more
Lecter... ten years of watching wondering and waiting. But now the wait is over. The sophisticated killer re-emerges in Florence Italy ready to entice Clarice in...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![Hannibal [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78509515.jpg "Hannibal [DVD] [2001]")
Aug 25th, 2002
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