Hannibal (DVD)

...everyone's favourite cannibal, one Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) has relocated to Italy, and is hiding out in a musty old library in Florence under the assumed identity of Dr. Fell. Meanwhile, back in the good ol' US of A, his old adversary Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore, replacing Jodie Foster) is seeing her career stumble. After a drugs bust turns into something of a bloodbath, Starling finds herself back on the Lecter case, an action ...
...sequel of the same name, Hannibal suffers from a shocking lack of a decent plot. Certain character developments are particularly unbelievable, and the basic mistake of trying to make Hannibal a more "likeable" character by only having him kill nasty people this time around is a fundamental one. This simultaneously robs Lecter of any ability to scare, and makes the whole thing feel like a direct-to-video horror movie. More surprisingly, the atmosphere ...

neo1138 11.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...Harris’ third book in the Hannibal Lector series, entitled simply ‘Hannibal’ and read it from cover to cover in two days. The previous two books had impressed me, and this one, whilst being rather far-fetched and unrealistic, was as good a book as I read all that year. I missed the film at the cinema for one reason or another, but thanks to the wonderful Britannia DVD, I found it sitting on my doorstep on my return from holiday. ...
...graft an extra dimension on, Hannibal is it. Because we don’t ever get to know the characters – even Lector is not set-up correctly and we only know about him from the legacy left by the last film – we do’t ever really care about them. Straling suffers her fall from grace within the first few moments of the film – but so what? We don’t know her, and haven’t been given the chance to get to know her, and so ...

hipchickvic 16.10.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

Hannibal opened on the 9th of February to enormous crowds, showing after showing sold out, and yet, this film had nowhere near the hype of Star Wars, the Phantom Menace. It just goes to show, real acting by Anthony Hopkins can eat Jar Jar Binks and friends for lunch anyday. Hannibal was anticipated by many to be a second Silence of The Lambs. That film met with such praise and acclaim that there was no way the sequel, even after ten years, could ...
...the storyline. Meanwhile, Hannibal Lecter is off having a good ol' time in Italy teaching Dante at a small university, working as a temp. Along comes another disgraced cop who apparently got reassigned to a not so important case. This cop also has an interesting family history, which will come back to haunt him. Italian cop discovers who Hannibal really is, and finds out about a big reward for his capture. After being warned not to approach Hannibal ...

veryhairymonkey 31.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

Hannibal returns to our screens in this overly gruesome thriller which lacks the elements which made the original so good. Once more Anthony Hopkins resumes his role as the lovable cannibal with Julianne Moore standing in for Jodie Foster as Clarice and an impressive supporting cast which includes Ray Liotta and Gary Oldman. If you are yet to see the film don't read on as I am going to discuss specific scenes in detail. The story is based on the ...
...this attracts her old pal Hannibal to return for an uninspiring showdown. The beginning of the film was passable although the scenes with Clarice and her FBI chums were very standard, how often does the local cop decide to ignore orders and cock up the operation? Too often basically and it was lazily thought out in this case. In contrast we had an interesting glance into Hannibal's life in Italy, working in academia he is discovered by Inspector ...

setimerenptah 24.09.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...celluloid love affair with Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. Now, 10 years after evading Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling in 1991’s hugely successful Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal’s hiding out in Florence, Italy. But he has two determined foes hot on his trail: Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi, an ambitious Italian cop, and the extremely wealthy Mason Verger, a rare survivor of Hannibal’s predations. Not that FBI special agent Starling ...
...Hannibal. Meanwhile, Inspector Pazzi recognizes Hannibal from the FBI’s most-wanted list and pursues him on his own time—not in the pursuit of justice, but for the $10 million reward. And Mason Verger has hired a team of Italian hitmen to exact his own personal revenge. What follows is a monstrous trip through the dregs of humanity as greed, ambition, vindictiveness and resentment clash with an implacable, remorseless killer. ---Positive ...

Dr_Pepper 02.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...notice the love story! Hannibal is for all intents and purposes is a thriller, a gruesome thriller in part, that is accepted but it is also definitely a love story. Perhaps not between two lovers but certainly between one man and his overpowering yet deeply, almost insanely controlled passion for FBI Special Agent Starling. Numerous comments have been made regarding an unsavoury scene near the end of the film, unsavoury yes, required absolutely. ...
...want to think ultimately of Hannibal as a Pussy Cat, do you? The sequel is not to be compared to the first film, it is a movie apart, whereas “Clarise” was the star in the form of talented Jodie Foster, the sequel has Anthony Hopkins as the most graphically, no, mentally stimulating ant-hero we are ever going to come across. His performance had me smiling, laughing, jumping and scared bottomless. Never have I thought when watching a ...

clanmac4 28.02.2001 (03.03.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...Having heard so much about Hannibal I had decided…..NO THANK YOU! I have not yet seen Silence of the Lambs and therefore had nothing to judge the film against and in a way I am glad as I took the film on its own merits. I was expecting to have to watch the film through a hand made venetian blind ( you know only the bits you can see between your fingers as you frantically try to cover your eyes!!) Much to my surprise I didn`t, yes there were ...
...make a face of Hannibal and then fly away almost signifying his underlying presence, very clever. One of the strongest elements of the film apart form the character of Hannibal (Anthony Hopkins) was the use of music. To me this held the film together, the use of opera, original music and The Blue Danube Waltz - Strauss was very effective. In fact the music had made so much of as impact that I am going to get the soundtrack!! The music provides atmosphere ...

debrini 07.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...introduced to good old Dr. Hannibal Lecter is his ever-eccentric self, trying to be good in the world. If they had left him alone he would not have started all his shenanigans again. Clarise Starling’s career has taken a nosedive since the glory days 10 years ago and everything she seems to do tends to turn out wrong. We see Starling in control of what seems to be a successful operation until another officer seemed to want to take over. The ...
...disabled from his torture from Hannibal all those years ago. He has always hunted for Hannibal since then and has put up a reward for $3 million to any one who can find him alive, as Verger had his own ideas of what he would like to do to Hannibal. Pazzi is a French policeman who is closely linked to Hannibal but does not know who he is until Starling puts a trace on to him and a series of events link all 3 together. Pazzi is struggling to cope ...

StollyDolly 12.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...quite dead 4th victim of Hannibal Lecter, who is outraged by his disfigurement caused by HL’s attack, sets forth for revenge on Lecter whatever the cost! (Conveniently he happens to be financially well advantaged) He therefore sets a very substantial reward for Lecter’s capture. The offer of reward leads abroad and 3rd party interest apart from the FBI! This a sets unbelievable amount of excitement to the film, which may persuade or ...
...their courage to watch it throughout, but be warned, this is not the type of film you would watch with your children! But however I may relieve some people’s minds considering watching this film, that it is not as gory as its predecessor. The “cat and mouse” scenario is exceptional with Anthony Hopkins again excelling himself in his psychological role. Edge of your seat stuff, subtle rather than brutish., however some may find ...

CoolCaddy 26.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...still plenty - particularly when Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) is staring obsessively into the eyes of his next victim or being (in his terms) pleasant on the phone to dogged FBI agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore replacing Jodie Foster). Of course what one might call the more physical scenes do stem from Lecter’s tangled psyche, and director Ridley Scott builds up to them extremely carefully, even managing to bring in black humour ...
...is about to meet his grisly end (out of sheer greed he has been trying to nail Lecter on his own), Lecter smirks in the manner of one who relishes the kill ‘Your decision. Bowels in or bowels out?’ As before, Hopkins never overcooks Lecter (although he expertly heats up a poor sap’s brains in a frying-pan) but instead balances him finely between unsettling horror and macabre fun. He is such a rich, strong character that others ...

TEASPOON 02.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

Hannibal is a vastly inferior second sequel of a film of a vastly inferior second sequel of a book. I won't compare the film to the book in this review. They are, after all, vastly different genres with their own constraints and opportunities. I will, though, judge the film against its two stunning predecessors, Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs. Sequels are not and cannot be 'stand alone' pieces of work. Sequels have parentage, and Hannibal ...
...depth and understatement. In Hannibal he loses all restraint and gives your average village hall amateur in a French farce a run for his money. He just goes way, way over the top. Where he merely suggested in SOTL, he positively screams his evil intent in Hannibal. So we see Lecter the evil demon, Lecter the impossibly cultured, Lecter the monstrously violent, Lecter the incredibly gentle, and Lecter the outrageously camp. It's pure comic book fodder. ...

sandrabarber 20.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

OK, so I was expecting big things from this movie. And who wouldn’t? It was directed by Ridley (Gladiator, Alien, Blade Runner) Scott; starred Anthony (Silence Of The Lambs) Hopkins, Julianne (Boogie Nights) Moore, and Gary (Leon, Fifth Element) Oldman. The stage was set for a great horror movie which I was hoping would be as good as its predecessor. But I had doubts. An implacable ‘no’ from Jodie Foster made me wonder how good ...
...of the book, which was meant to have a bit of a flat ending and have an unrealistic relationship between Dr Lecter and Clarice Starling. I was also surprised to find out that Ridley Scott changed the ending for the film. In the end, I didn’t know what to expect. So what about the performances? As usual, Anthony Hopkins was amazing. He still remains the coolest movie killer EVER, and you can’t doubt that in some quirky way his psychology ...

flod 24.02.2001 (25.02.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) is back after being dormant for ten years, resurfacing, somewhat predictably in Florence, considering the character’s love of the aesthetically elegant and beautiful. Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) finds her career takes a turn for the worst when she unjustly gets rebuked for a drugs bust which ends in the loss of life of five people, and soon finds herself working on the case which first kick-started her ...
...sympathise more with Lecter, a serial killer and cannibal, than with a corrupt politician and a disfigured homosexual! ‘Hannibal’ does have its faults, but it is a pretty good attempt at a sequel, and the ending does allow for a possible third installment of Hannibal Lecter. Overall 5/10 ...

Alex1226 03.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...case of the elusive Dr. Hannibal Lecter and basically tracks him from Europe to the States, becoming more deeply involved as Hannibal's obsession with her becomes creepier and more disturbing. (No wonder really that Foster turned the part down - probably got a tip off that the plot was a bit pap). You just can't recreate a classic such as The Lambs by simply re-hashing the elements of the first film, but to a lesser degree. A sequel novel - fair ...
...spin off a milder, meeker, Marlboro Lights version of the first film and expect it to draw the audiences the first did - now that's just lack of imagination. The only reason this film will do as well as it will ( albeit not 'Gladiator' well) is that people will watch it based on the success of The Silence of the Lambs (as I did) and will be really rather dissapointed (as I was). And on a side note - it's not as gory as some people have made out. ...

joolzroolz 24.06.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)

...Hannibal. We've internalized Hannibal Lecter, made him part of the collective serial killer consciousness. He was only on-screen for eight minutes in Silence of the Lambs and he won an Oscar, just imagine the possibilities if Hannibal had his very own movie! Well now he does. And the results stink worse than Jeffrey Dahmer's breath. For the record, I've read all of Thomas Harris' novels and,except for Hannibal, they're all excellent. The book Hannibal ...
...read the book. Hannibal Lecter was menacing and scary in Silence of the Lambs precisely because he was incarcerated. We were forced to imagine his prior crimes and how he was captured. He was supremely dangerous yet flawed at the same time. Yeah he ate people, but yeah he was in jail too. Well, release Lecter from the mental ward and all the mystery is gone. No more supermodel Heidi Klum, just five foot two 253 pound Mrs. Froman. With his high-falutin' ...

jezeres 28.06.2001 (29.06.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Hannibal (DVD)