Jun. 06, 2003 - 11:51 pm
after having seen Hannibal (2001), i wasn't at all enthusiastic about the prospect of seeing this third Hannibal film. i thought Hannibal was very disappointing for the most part. especially as a follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs (1991). the first movie in the trilogy is so awesome that it becomes almost impossible to even come close to its greatness. anyway, Ananda had Red Dragon checked out from the library so we went ahead and watched it. we both thought that it was supposed to be the story of how Hannibal came into being and then how he got caught. we were wrong.
at the very beginning of this picture, Hannibal gets caught by Ed Norton and just sort of helps him to catch the Red Dragon, a serial killer with perverted sexual tendencies. it's pretty much the same thing that happens in The Silence of the Lambs, but it's not quite as good. it's more diluted because of the complexity of character interactions.
i will say that the cast is excellent. Ralph Fiennes does a very convincing job as the Red Dragon and he has a few awesome scenes where he's actually quite scary. in regards to Ed Norton, i don't think he was really pushed to his full potential in this one. i'm sure it was an easy role for him. and for some reason, the Hannibal character will never be as scary as in the first film.
i'm sticking with my previous decision. you should definitely watch The Silence of the Lambs, but stay away from the other two. sure, read the books, but don't worry with the films so much.