In Manhunter (1986), Michael Mann's adaptation of Red Dragon, Lecter (or Lecktor as Mann re-named him) was played by Brian Cox, all mocking understatement as he contemptuously addressed his captors from a sterile, white on white cell. In The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Jonathan Demme imagined the captive Lecter in the sombre confines of a subterranean stone dungeon, a counterpoint to the theatrical interpretation of Anthony Hopkins. While Mann evoked psychological disturbances through an array of sleek, modernist visual abstractions, Demme's film achieved an intense intimacy through the striking deployment of point-of-view shots and close-ups of Hopkins and Jodie Foster. The non-involvement of Demme and Foster (who as far as most people were concerned is Clarice Starling) in the screen version of Hannibal was interpreted as disapproval of the novel, a declaration that its grisly excesses and already infamous dénouement were betrayals of the characters.

Hannibal begins with Starling's (Julianne Moore) once promising career in decline following a disastrous raid in which she kills a renowned drug dealer who is carrying a baby. Meanwhile, relocated in Florence with a new identity, Lecter (Hopkins) is pursued by Inspector Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini) intent on securing the $3 million reward offered by Mason Verger (an uncredited Gary Oldman), a super-rich former victim of Lecter's, now hideously disfigured. Tempted out of hiding by Starling's public shaming, Lecter returns to the US to face his pursuers.

Director Ridley Scott has certainly imposed himself with his familiar rapid cutting and richly detailed visual schemata. There is a high-tech title sequence that immediately announces that this is a very different take on the Lecter mythology. Retaining just a semblance of the black humour of the novel, Scott has amplified its excess and modern gothic trappings. Lecter is depicted as a contemporized Dracula with Starling in pursuit as a post-feminist Van Helsing. The film often resembles a modern, expensive variation on the kind of "international" thriller so prevalent in the 1960s. Unfortunately, along with a range of supporting roles, the principals remain strictly two-dimensional with much of the character nuance of Silence sucked away by the few opportunities for Moore and Hopkins to actually play off each other. Lecter veers close to Freddy Krueger-style wisecracking ("goody goody", "okey dokey") and freed from the confines of his cell, the layers of menace are stripped away.

So, as the film's demonic anti-hero, Lecter functions chiefly to correct the sins of other evildoers. Consequently, the secondary villainy of Verger and duplicitous Justice Department politico Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) is utilised simply to signpost the just desserts coming their way. Only Giannini transcends his equally underwritten role, communicating the humanity underlying his essential greed. Moore, swamped somewhat by Scott's tendency to stylistic overstatement, conveys only a fraction of the regret and frustration that now drives Starling. As co-written by David Mamet and Steven Zaillian, one would have expected a deeper sense of her pivotal role. Instead she is often used to provide convenient narrative weight to Lecter's corrective personal mission.

Hannibal certainly works on a superficial level as mainstream Grand Guignol. However, for all of its disembowelling and brain feasts, the film ultimately shies away from many of the wicked, grotesque elements that so distinguishes Harris' writing. Details such as Verger's paedophilia and a crucifix clock bearing Starling's face are nowhere to be found. This of course merely reflects the extent to which Lecter is now another post-modern, pop culture icon, sanitizing the serial murderer to the point of appalled acceptance while brushing his true cultural meaning under the carpet. He may occupy the spotlight here but it's difficult to see how the character can actually progress. In Alien (1979), Ridley Scott demonstrated the value of a barely glimpsed beast - foregrounding Lecter seems a major factor in Hannibal's failure to capture a true sense of the monstrous. Scott and his collaborators should have spent less time spilling the blood and guts of Lecter's foes and more time fleshing them out.

Reviewed by Neil Jackson

Hannibal - IMDB.com