Hopkins is on the loose in `Hannibal'
By V. VAN BUREN GILES
Scene Movie Critic
"Hello, Clariiice." Yep, he's back again and this time he's not just a bit player. The new Ridley Scott film "Hannibal," based on Thomas Harris's novel of the same name, was the big winner at the box office this weekend as people flocked to the theater to get a taste, so to speak, of the chilling cannibalistic psychiatrist that terrified audiences in 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs."
Anthony Hopkins returns to the role that made him a household name, playing the disturbed, but extremely learned psychopath, Hannibal Lecter.
Commonly misunderstood as a sequel, "Hannibal" is actually the third installment in the psychological drama series that has turned the highly intelligent, but monstrously dangerous doctor into a cultural icon. Director Michael Mann's "Manhunter" was based on Harris' first Hannibal novel, "Red Dragon." In that film, Brian Cox portrayed Hannibal as we see him in "Silence:" imprisoned and playing mind games with federal agents hot on the trail of serial killer.
The premise of "Hannibal," however, is that Lecter has been on the loose for quite some time and has fallen out of public view, and off the F.B.I.'s Ten Most Wanted List. But Clarice Starling remembers the good doctor all too well. Thanks to encounters with the doctor at the Baltimore behavioral institute, she was able to capture the notorious serial killer "Buffalo Bill."
Another person who remembers Hannibal is one of Dr. Lecter's old patients: Mason Verger, a filthy rich, but emotionally unstable sophisticate who was tortured and horribly disfigured on one of the doctors visits. Verger has the connections and the bankroll to track Hannibal to the corners of the earth in hopes of someday settling the score.
Since escaping Washington, D.C., Dr. Lecter has made his way to Florence, Italy and has assumed the identity of a museum curator named Dr. Fell. The doctor seems at ease in the artistic and social grandeur that Florence offers. But it is not long before Inspector Pazzi (Giancarlo Gianinni) of the police department figures out the real identity of the deranged doctor. He must now decide if the doctor's apprehension is a federal matter, or if he should claim the million-dollar reward.
Julianne Moore ("Boogie Nights") is new to the role of Special Agent Clarice Starling. Jodie Foster won an Academy Award for her performance as Starling but opted out of "Hannibal," leaving the door open for Moore. Gary Oldman ("J.F.K.," "The Professional") is uncredited as the repulsive Mason Verger and Ray Liotta ("Goodfellas") is Starling's superior at the F.B.I.
Audiences should know that the psychotic doctor does not make his grand entrance until thirty minutes into the film. What's great about "Hannibal" is that people take pleasure in rooting for the bad guy. We get to see him mingle in society, perfectly at ease and refined in manner. This is the greatest effect of Ridley Scott's movie as before we only understood the caged animal in "Silence," and now we get to observe the monster running loose around the world.
As a whole, "Hannibal" is not as good as its precursors. Readers of the book should know that the ending is different, which is a real blessing having personally laid out the $27.95 for the hardcover edition. This is one of few recent films that really makes the most out of the `R' rating. Those who have difficulty sitting through films like "Psycho" or "Rosemary's Baby" will most assuredly loose their lunch.
It's difficult to name a movie murderer who brings as much style and grace to his gruesome craft as Hannibal Lecter (he quotes Dante and frequents the opera). He even makes the simple feat of licking an envelope into a menacing act. The real scare of Hannibal is not his artistic nature in which he disembowels his victims, but rather his savagery in exploiting human weakness.
--3 and 1/2 out of 5 shamrocks
All Scene Stories for Thursday, February 15, 2001
