GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER?

By Greg Walton

Review Film Critic

 Let's get one thing straight.  Silence of the Lambs - despite its literary

pedigree, despite its 1991 Oscar tri-fecta, and despite being marketed as a

consumer-friendly psycho thriller  - is, unquestionably, a horror movie.

Of course, the filmmakers could never come clean and risk associating lead

villain Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter with riff-raff like Freddy,

Leatherface, and Chucky the killer muppet.  That's too far beneath an actor

of Anthony Hopkins' caliber.

And 10 years later, following mixed reaction to Thomas Harris' long awaited

novel, Hannibal slips comfortably into the same marketing disguise.  Gone

is director Jonathan Demme.  Same with Clarice #1, Jodie Foster.  But just

like every horror movie, the victims are expendable; it's the bad guy

everyone pays to see.  And Hopkins is back in the role that saved him from

a career of stuffy British butlers and inspirational math teachers.  Let

the cannibalism references commence!

Hannibal, while not nearly as tasty as either Silence or its lesser known

pre-quel, Manhunter, manages to idle through two hours

of pointless plotting without insulting the Oscar legacy that should have

doomed it from the start.  In case you weren't paying attention, that's not

exactly a recommendation; more like a nice try for director Ridley Scott

and his cast of over-qualified actors who weren't blessed with much

material to work with.

Besides the book's controversial ending, which sent Clarice tip toeing

through the tulips with Lecter in a hideously out of character twist, most

readers' gripes were with the over-the-top gore.  Eager to please, Scott's

film drops the much maligned ending, but keeps the gore (the guy's a

cannibal, what do you expect?!).  So we're left with Hannibal, hidden in

the high-society social circles of Venice, brought out of semi retirement

by a nosy Italian cop (Giancarlo Giannini).  Clarice (Julianne Moore) is on

the outs with the FBI after a bust gone bad and finds life after-Lecter

just isn't that interesting.

Uncredited and unrecognizable, Gary Oldman makes the biggest impression in

the film as Lecter's only surviving victim, Mason, who has vowed revenge

and has a substantial fortune to back up the threat.  His plan?  Capture

Lecter and feed him to an army of skull-crunching pigs.    Polished skin

pieced together by scars, lips pulled away, one eye half out of its socket

- Goldman is the single goriest thing in the film and he's onscreen quite

often.  So you might want to skip the Goobers.

Hannibal owes whatever success it has to director Ridley Scott and his

actors, who treat the entire affair with much more respect than it

deserves.

Ever the visual stylist, Scott gives the film what the book lacked:

atmosphere; a pervasive sense of doom clinging to the architecture and

oozing from the cobblestone streets.  The European influence creates the

illusion of terror, even if you're more likely to be scared walking to your

car after the movie.

Even Giannini, a no-name in America who could have just as easily been

played by Brad Pitt with another bad accent, brings an international flair

that separates itself from the claustrophobic staginess of Silence.

Julianne Moore puts on a Blue Ridge twang, and does a bang-up job as

Clarice Starling.  But her role is about well-conceived as Dana Scully in a

Mulder-obsessed X-Files episode: lots of long-distance detective work

followed by the standard woman-in-jeopardy routine.  After all the pent up

emotion of Silence, keeping these two characters separated by whole

continents instead of a pane of plexi-glass just doesn't make sense.

When she and Hannibal finally do get together, it's for dinner (read into

that what you may) but the whole thing is like one of those fancy hors

d'-oeuvres...it looks appetizing but ten minutes later you're in the Taco

Bell drive-thru screaming for Chalupas.

Grade: C+

AND FOR DESSERT...

 	For those in the know, Manhunter has been that movie to bring out

and impress friends by announcing with film critic snobbery, "You know,

someone else played Hannibal Lecter before Anthony Hopkins.  And for God's

sake, put that drink on a coaster!"

Well, the secret's out, smart guy!  Anchor Bay's gorgeous new DVD transfer

of the Silence of the Lambs pre-quel (based on the book Red Dragon) makes a

strong case for hailing director Michael Mann's version of Hannibal as the

tastiest.

Starring William Petersen as Agent Will Graham and Scottish actor Brian Cox

as Lecter, the film is a near perfect combo of substance and style.

Graham, a criminal profiler who catches psychos by getting into their

heads, is brought out of retirement to track down The Tooth Fairy - a wacko

who's killing spree is triggered by the moon.

To get a taste for his prey, Graham visits with Lecter in prison (just like

Jodie five years later) and winds up consumed by a case that could cost him

his sanity.

 At the time of release, Manhunter shared an uncomfortable amount of

similarities to Mann's TV sensation Miami Vice. But fifteen years after all

the Ray Bans and two-day old stubble, the film looks like a revelation -

decadent colors, mesmerizing performances, and a hypno trippy soundtrack.

All that, and everyone wears socks...which is more than you could say for

Crockett and Tubbs.

 The DVD comes in two versions: a limited edition set with both the

Director's cut (which amounts to 3 minutes of fairly unimportant footage)

and the theatrical version, plus a nifty dossier on the making of the film

- including a re-creation of the Tooth Fairy's note to Lecter.  Very cool.

But for most folks, the single DVD release will be more than enough, with

two documentaries featuring comments from cast and crew, bios, and the

theatrical trailer.

Impress your friends.  Wow your neighbors.  Then sleep with the lights on.

Grade:  A