The Silence of the Lambs was great, and it ended great. Fancy, a film about a cannibal that had rare taste.
With Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) still at large, Clarice Starling (now Julianne Moore) is no longer anyone’s muse. Still, she has proven herself a more than capable FBI agent.
But we have many films about capable FBI agents, and not nearly as many about cannibalistic serial killers with brilliant but deranged minds, so it isn’t long before Lecter and Starling’s live once again intersect.
Lecter is living his life anonymously in Europe indulging every non-cannibalistic whim in a luxuriant lifestyle. Starling is hard at work of course, but is called in by Mason Verger (an unrecognisable Gary Oldman), a millionaire grotesquely disfigured many years ago by Lecter, and willing to put a handsome bounty on his head. Starling is called in as an expert analyst to assist in the search for Lecter. She obviously has the knowledge from her previous dealings with the unpredictable murderer, and the time because of a suspension at the hands of senior agent Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) a man who resents Starling’s momentary fame and sudden rise to prominence.
For much of the film Starling and Lecter remain on different continents, and while the hunt and pursuit seems to be gaining ground, the golden rule remains; Hannibal Lecter is two steps ahead at all times.
Hannibal the book was a decent page turner but is only so-so as a film despite the lavish production, all star cast and no doubt large budget. There are long building sequences, occasionally punctuated with sudden graphic violence, but the tension is no longer there.
The franchise also suffers because it refuses to choose a side. Instead of defining Starling or Lecter, it somewhat lazily conjures up a nemesis for each.
As Lecter himself would know, a meal well prepared is something to be savoured. Here the ingredients are a bit stale and the process too derivative to generate lasting flavour.
Final Rating – 6 / 10. Not even a nice chianti and some fava beans could help this one.
