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Reviews:
Hannibal’s
Damnable
by Michael Flanagan
Wimpy
The biggest problem with Hannibal
is that it’s a sequel.
It’s almost expected in movieland that
if a film is successful, a sequel will be made,
and that sequel will be met with the phrase,
“not as good as the first one,” throughout
it’s entire existence as a piece of film.
Hannibal’s existence is even
more troublesome, as it’s the sequel to The
Silence of the Lambs.
So why is it “not as good
as the first one?”
Well, take Lambs, then:
A)
Take out Jodie Foster.
Julianne Moore is great, but Foster
turned it down for a reason.
(see point B)
B)
Take Clarice Starling (Moore), then
remove any interesting character traits, any
personal history, and any real involvement with
the film.
C)
Take out the thrilling and horrific
“moth” serial murder investigation, and
replace it with pigs.
Yes, pigs.
D)
Take out the villain (no, Hannibal is not
a villain) Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb and
replace with Ray Liotta in tennis shorts and a
sweater and Gary Oldman in a wheelchair, sans
face.
E)
Take out Hannibal’s natural
intellectualism and psychological analyses, then
take the line, “I’m meeting an old friend
for dinner,” clone it with fifty similar
lines, and add camp with a little cheese on top.
What you’re left with is Hannibal.
Thomas Harris, the novelist on whose
works these films are based, spent hundreds of
hours researching the FBI, criminology, the
insane, serial murderers, etc., then wrote Lambs.
For Hannibal, it appears that he
crafted a fictional story with no research,
threw in Hannibal Lecter, and had himself a best
seller, as well as a multi-week number one movie
adaptation.
It’s a decent horror
film, but it doesn’t deserve to be compared to
The Silence of the Lambs in any way.
The ending, however, is greatly improved.
The conclusion of the novel makes little
sense and completely ignores the
characterization of both Clarice and Hannibal.
Harris created some “fairy tale”
ending that suggests he may have been on the
same drugs he was writing about.
After Foster declined, they (and by
“they” I mean “someone.
The screenwriters are credited as Davd
Mamet and David Zaillan) re-wrote the script and
changed the ending to better suit the
characters.
And they do a wonderful job.
However, it’s too little,
too late, or as is the case with many sequels,
too much, not necessary.
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