Hannibal (DVD) > Reviews

Advantages: good peformances from Oldman, Moore, Hopkins & Liotta
Disadvantages: Sorry, it needed Jodie, it really, really did.

There is a striking trend in modern filmmaking to gut good books and leave only one strand of the story. Things which are difficult politically, economically or cinematographically are thrown out without ceremony. Hannibal, like Chocolat and Captain Corelli's Mandolin is no exception. Authors often love their characters from the start, or else grow to love them. I think that Thomas Harris has been seduced by his own creation. In the book, he looks ... Read review

Advantages: A very watchable film
Disadvantages: None, for me cos I haven't the space here

...op would it?) As fans of Hannibal the Cannibal will know this is the third in the trilogy, but only the second to star the man himself, (He’s Welsh you know! Born just down the road from where I live.. That’s enough get on with it) anyway, Hannibal kicks off with Dr Lecter now living in Florence (Italy) wanting to be the curator of a museum. As it turns out someone is trying to get him, and make Starling look bad in the process, and ... Read review

Advantages: great gruesome scenes and brilliant acting
Disadvantages: not for people with weak stomachs

...PLOT** Set ten years after Dr Hannibal Lecter, (played by Anthony Hopkins) escaped from captivity in 'Silence of the Lambs' he is know living in Florence, Italy under an alias called Dr Fell. However, back in the U.S. FBI agent, Clarice Starling, (played this time by Julianne Moore) is having trouble with her superior Paul Krendler, (played by Ray Liotta), who wont take no for an answer. Paul blames Clarice for a drugs deal that went tragically ... Read review

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Disadvantages: see review

...matching it brilliance...just not quite. Hannibal is at large on the streets following on from his escape in the 2nd of the trilogy. Not exactly lying low though, this criminal mastermind carries on his depraved behaviour whilst evading the FBI and world police agencies with consumate ease. He s however also being stalked by a hideously disfigured multimillionaire madman, who had arun in with Lecter many years earlier - hence the disfigurement. Clarice ... Read review

Advantages: Some good acting
Disadvantages: Weak plot

...did. With Anthony Hopkins playing Hannibal Lecter with a realism that is very scary and Jody Foster playing the FBI agent Scarlet, this movie became a huge success and one of the scaries psychological horror movies since a namesakes Hopkins starred in Hitchcock’s Psycho. It was inevitable that after the success of the first movie the sequel would be made’ die to contractual obligations, Jodie Foster was unavailable for the second movie, ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliant black humour
Disadvantages: Not as good as Silence (but was it ever going to be?)

...numerous cast problems and setbacks, Hannibal is now chewing its way to our big screens. The third film following the tale of Dr Hannibal Lecter (the original being the low grossing Manhunter) it follows on from Silence of the Lambs, with Hannibal having escaped and now living a peaceful life in Florence sampling its finest cuisine. ~STARTERS~ The Plot After a botched drug raid the once heralded Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) found ... Read review

Advantages: n/a
Disadvantages: n/a

...has a keen interest in Hannibal as he is willing to pay $250,000 dollars for the green mask Hannibal wore in Silence of the Lambs. It soon turns out that the bloke with the disfigured face is Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), one of Lecter’s old victims. He was led to feeding the skin of his face to a dog and now wants his revenge, but he keeps this all very quiet and just lets people know he has an interest in Hannibal Lecter being captured. The ... Read review

Advantages: Nice settings and soundtrack
Disadvantages: Plot holes, hammy acting, very morally dubious in places

...her as bait to lure Hannibal out of hiding. Verger wants his revenge. Verger has also put a reward out for anyone who can bring him Dr Lecter and a police officer decides to try and capture Hannibal rather than turn him in to the FBI. He clearly just wants the money and isn't interested in justice. Agent Starling meanwhile is also having a little trouble with her male colleagues. Will Hannibal get caught by anyone and what will happen to Agent ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliant and original psychological thriller
Disadvantages: none

...mouse chase begins with both Hannibal and Starling simultaneously play both parts.Their highly charged, obsessive relationship, built on a mutual obsession and repressed attraction is central to the game and the film itself. Starling's original interest to find him soon becomes obsession, but so too is another badly mutilated figure with a sense of revenge that has taken over his life, when a trace of Hannibal is found a race begins to find him ... Read review

Advantages: Great cast,script, direction, a brilliantly eerie soundtrack and fantastic settings.
Disadvantages: Brutal in places

Hannibal is the second official instalment of Thomas Harris’s trilogy. The first part being ‘Silence of the Lambs’. This sequel sees the return of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, and his performance is as phenomenal as ever. The FBI agent Clarice Starling is not played by Jodie Foster, who won an Oscar for her performance in the original. Personally this is what put me off watching the film for so long as I was not sure whether ... Read review

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Disadvantages: See review

...stimulates afterwards. On this basis, Hannibal must surely be one of the best movies that I have seen for many months - my friends and I seem to have discussed very little ever since we went to see it. Ten years on from its highly successful predecessor, Silence of the Lambs, the storyline of the sequel is relatively simple. Disgraced in duty, Clarice Starling is offered the chance to save her career by means of being assigned to locate Hannibal ... Read review

Advantages: Thrills
Disadvantages: None

...Silence of the Lambs (could Hannibal possibly live up to its predecessor?)Some people were loudly dismissing the film without having seen it. I was trying to remember every aspect of the book, which I'd read some months previously, to see how the dramatisation would compare. I had read some glowing reviews, some not so good, and some outright 'this film stinks' articles that had me prepared for the worst. Tickets in one hand, over-priced popcorn ... Read review