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Hannibal
2001
After a decade in abeyance, the courtly cannibal, Hannibal Lecter, returns to the screen, again played by Anthony Hopkins, under the direction of Ridley Scott. When F.B.I. Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) is blamed for a botched drug bust, her boss Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) makes a media circus of her humiliation, which .. Read more
| Starring | Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta |
|---|---|
| Director | Ridley Scott |
| Genres | Thriller |
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Hannibal
After a decade in abeyance, the courtly cannibal, Hannibal Lecter, returns to the screen, again played by Anthony Hopkins, under the direction of Ridley Scott. When F.B.I. Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) is blamed for a botched drug bust, her boss Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) makes a media circus of her humiliation, which catches the attention of Lecter. Now a hardened veteran, she begins receiving letters from the twisted genius, who remains obsessed with her. Yet she's not the only one interested in drawing out the psychopath, now lecturing on the Renaissance in Florence. Italian detective Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini) hopes to impress his young wife by nailing the reward for his capture, and wealthy pedophile Mason Verger (Gary Oldman) is eager to take revenge against the cannibal for leaving him with a hideously deformed face. But they're no match for Hannibal's coyly satanic ubiquity, which bewilders his quickly narcotized foes before he administers a punishment sufficiently grotesque to suit his sense of amusement.The odious Krendler, in particular, learns to use his gray matter for, perhaps, the first time in his life. However, all is prologue to his fated rendezvous with Clarice. A banquet for the splatterati, reveling as it does in gore and dismemberment, the film features brilliant work by a stellar cast, and the kind of meticulous art direction and lushly magnificent photography that one has come to expect of Scott.
| Starring | Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta, Frankie R. Faison, Giancarlo Giannini, Francesca Neri, Zeljko Ivanek, Francis Guinan, Mark Margolis |
|---|---|
| Director | Ridley Scott |
| Studio | SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 6 mins Blu-ray: 2 hrs 11 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 Top Thrillers |
| Genres | Thriller |
| Language | English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | Dutch, English, Hindi |
| Released | DVD: 07 Jul 2003 Blu-ray: 07 Sep 2009 Production year: 2001 |
| Format | DVD |
Hannibal (2001)
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Critics' reviews (5)
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Since making his debut in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs, the cinema's favourite cannibal has gnawed his way into the popular consciousness. But this long-awaited sequel didn't have a smooth journey to the screen, with both original Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) and original director Jonathan Demme rejecting the project. However, Anthony Hopkins does reprise his Oscar-winning role as Hannibal Lecter, this time with his tongue in his cheek. Top FBI agent Starling — played with creditable conviction by Julianne Moore in the absence of Foster — is faced with the aftermath of a failed drugs raid. To escape the bad publicity, she's sent to the house of a former victim of Lecter's, Mason Verger (an extraordinary performance from an unrecognisable Gary Oldman), who hopes to revitalise her search for his attacker. Fans of the first film will be disappointed with the lack of mystery, suspense and psychological resonance here, but there's loads more Lecter for the money (as the title suggests), and plenty of gory action and black humour. This film's opening in the States was the third biggest in cinema history — it took ?40 million in three days.
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A movie that edges towards the gruesome style of a big budget Hammer horror, presenting a bogeyman as superhero. No explanation is provided as to how Lecter manages to stay undetected as he moves effortlessly between countries; we have to take his genius
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Most helpful member's review
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12 out of 16 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
More interesting when he was behind bars
The main fault of this film and it’s not really the films fault at all, is the book it was sourced from.
“Hannibal” was a book too in love with its main protagonist, so much so it had the heroine, the intelligent and principled Clarice Starling run off with him. Thankfully the film dumps this preposterous premise. Unfortunately it cannot avoid over eulogising Dr Lector and surprisingly has just not strong enough a character to carry a film on his own.
This is primarily down to Anthony Hopkins portrayal. His camp pantomime approach strips him of his icy charisma. Compared to Brian Cox’s steely sarcastic cameo in the superb “Manhunter” this is cartoon villainy. He wanders round Florence looking like Henry Blofeld and exuding all the danger of the plumy voiced commentator.
Julianne Moore is an excellent actress but doesn’t sit right as the driven Clarice and Gary Oldham’s Mason Verger looks like a half melted waxwork of Skeletor.
The plots too silly to convince, again the fault of the book, and it finally ends with an attitude that says Lector is a bit of a rogue who just happens to horribly murder and occasionally eat people. The rascal.
It seems even the talented Ridley Scott could not make anything worthwhile with this risible material. The sooner Lector is behind bars again the better. He was far more interesting then.
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- Northernsky from Halifax
- Posted 08 Jun 2004 16:57
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Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Hannibal
Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) has been hiding in Florence, Italy for 10 years now. Back in America, Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), Lecter's sole surviving victim, wants revenge, by any means. He plans to draw Lecter, using, as his bait, the one thing he cares for: Agent Clarice M Starling (Julianne Moore).
WARNING: Before watching this film put all thoughts of it being as good as Silence Of The Lambs out of your mind.
Heed this warning and Hannibal is (for the most part) a good experience. I never expected this film to be better than it's classic predecessor, but it really is not as bad as has been reported. The biggest problems with Hannibal stem from the source novel, but to them later. What are the good points?
Perhaps the film's greatest asset is Ridley Scott. While his CV is by no means free of turkeys Scott always makes beautiful films and Hannibal is no exception. The look of the film is perfect, right down to the stock chosen for separate scenes (for example the film is notably grainier during the shootout at the fish market, lending the scene a documentary realism). As always with Scott the editing (by Pietro Scalia) is precise and well paced, never making the mistake more and more common today of cutting too fast in moments of action, rendering them nonsensical.
Julianne Moore makes a wonderful replacement for Foster. I shook in my boots when I heard the list of possible Starlings, such as Angelina Jolie, and Hilary Swank. Thank God for Julianne Moore, she's one of a very select few actresses working with the talent to match Jodie Foster. And match her she does, her accent is flawless and she gives a powerful, credible performance, particularly in her scenes with Ray Liotta. Moore's performance has been heavily criticised, other than the fact that she is not Foster I fail to see a reason for this.
It's sad to say but Hopkins' Lecter is far less impressive now. He seems not just to chew the scenery, but to ask for a second helping. This has removed much of the menace that he exhibited in Silence Of The Lambs and the film is the poorer for it.
The supporting cast is full of good turns by gifted performers. Ray Liotta (enjoying a renaissance with this and Blow) is excellent as Clarice's nemesis Paul Krendler and, as I said before, brings out the best in Moore when he is on screen. Frankie Faison reprises the role of Barney from Silence Of The Lambs I always liked Barney and Faison won my sympathy again here. Giancarlo Giannini impresses in a relatively small role as Inspector Pazzi.
With all these performances that are so good it is a shame to have to complain about an actor as gifted as Gary Oldman but his (stunning) make up seems to drown his performance.
So why is this review not overwhelmingly positive? It goes back to the book. The ending of the book and the ending of the film are not at all similar (at least as to the events). This is fortunate; the last 30 pages of the book were the worst, most mystifying, written in a very long time. Unfortunately the film's ending is no better. Indeed the film doesn't really end; it stops, inviting a sequel. This is a real shame, until the last 10 minutes or so Hannibal is good (if not great), then it falls at the last hurdle. -
News and features
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Hopkins to feast as Hannibal again
- 16 May 2009
Sir Anthony Hopkins is teaming up with director Sir Ridley Scott to bring his most infamous villain Hannibal Lecter back to the big screen. The actor will reprise his cannibalistic serial killer for the fourth time in a second sequel to the 1991 hit film The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won a Best Actor Oscar. Hopkins also appeared in 2001's Hannibal before starring in the 2002 prequel Red Dragon. And actress Cate Blanchett has been tipped to take over the role of Clarice Starling after... Read more
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Hannibal - BLU-RAY Version
After a decade in abeyance, the courtly cannibal, Hannibal Lecter, returns to the screen, again played by Anthony Hopkins, under the direction of Ridley Scott. When F.B.I. Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) is blamed for a botched drug bust, her boss Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) makes a media ...
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Hannibal
After a decade in abeyance, the courtly cannibal, Hannibal Lecter, returns to the screen, again played by Anthony Hopkins, under the direction of Ridley Scott. When F.B.I. Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) is blamed for a botched drug bust, her boss Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) makes a media ...
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