The lights dimmed, the Censors Certificate bore the legend “Hannibal certified as a Love Story by the couple out front” the opening titles lit up their faces, as they hurriedly placed their half eaten Nachos with double dip and extra chillies at the feet of their Pullman chairs. Hands joined, they opened their minds to the “Ridley Scott” masterpiece about to unfold and interwine with their souls like the mist rising about naked ankles on a dewy spring morn, like the breath of a loved one on your neck before whispering goodnight.
Both the man and woman had heard the hype, she nearly finishing the novel, he reading many ranged opinions on a consumer website. They were keen to make their own judgment. They had enjoyed the “Silence of the Lambs” several years earlier and wantonly looked to the moment when the sequel would enter their lives. During the showing, all emotions had been expelled, excitement, angst, derision, horror, disgust and passion, they left the cinema spent, hardly able to make the short journey home. Once over the threshold their vigour returned, keen to inform the babysitters of the most excellent movie they had just witnessed. Keen to pass on the news, to flaunt the film, to give a taste, a snippet of information here and there, to see if the bait would be taken.
Thursday night is outlaw cinema night, let us see if they take the bait and their daughter and son outlaw can reel them in for the kill. Of course washed down with a cheeky little Chianti.
Perception is something that we use every day in life, watching “Hannibal” we perceive different things. Writing an opinion on such a well and thoroughly opiniated movie is only justifiable by stating the obvious, did no one notice the love story!
Hannibal is for all intents and purposes is a thriller, a gruesome thriller in part, that is accepted but it is also definitely a love story. Perhaps not between two lovers but certainly between one man and his overpowering yet deeply, almost insanely controlled passion for FBI Special Agent Starling.
Numerous comments have been made regarding an unsavoury scene near the end of the film, unsavoury yes, required absolutely. Remember Hannibal is on the FBI’s most wanted list for one reason only, sorry change that to fourteen reasons only, fourteen brutally gruesome murders. This man is unmistakably a man of supreme evil, without this scene in the run of this love story sequence near the end, well you don’t want to think ultimately of Hannibal as a Pussy Cat, do you?
The sequel is not to be compared to the first film, it is a movie apart, whereas “Clarise” was the star in the form of talented Jodie Foster, the sequel has Anthony Hopkins as the most graphically, no, mentally stimulating ant-hero we are ever going to come across. His performance had me smiling, laughing, jumping and scared bottomless. Never have I thought when watching a movie that an actor’s presence was so supreme. I would have kneeled at his feet if I had attended the premier, of course fear may have caused me to run like a whippet to safety.
Julianne Moore plays Starling in this film, she completes a good performance against Hopkins excellent one. Some of her scenes are filmed in a dispassionate basement office, false bright lighting, the hum of computers, this in bright contrast to Hannibal’s exuberant fest of passion, culture and fire in Florence. This reflects the difference in the lives of both players, Starling trapped in her FBI controlled role, Hannibal, the cultured psychopath, free to wander, to enjoy.
The plot clarifies my stance on the “Love” angle, I do not want to go into the plot, but I must. For this is an opinion and if I do not at least make a low unobtrusive attempt to tempt you, not unlike the ultimate temptation of the outlaws, I would not be doing my job properly.
You will find Starling at the bid and call of one of Hannibal’s surviving victims, Mason Verger played supremely by Gary Oldman. Her career has taken a dip for reasons that will become evident, if you watch the film! To escape dismissal she accepts a contrived mission. The mission is to capture the elusive Hannibal Lecter, who has been spotted in Florence. Prior to Clarise getting in on the act, a local Italian detective has stumbled across Hannibal in his new role as a Library Curator. Establishing that there is a grandiose award for Hannibal’s capture, he contacts the agents of Mason Verger and arranges a trap. The entrapment scene is excellent, enthralling, and spectacular, no more from me!
Starling is further compromised, falsely on this occasion and Lecter comes to her rescue. Why rescue? I know and you have to find out, this is the love angle I have mentioned.
There are scenes of graphical violence, they are short but in my opinion they are required. For the last forty minutes of the film my wife held her hand to her face, peeking through her fingers, the way I used to watch “Doctor Who” when I was really young.
In essence, take one magnificent portrayal of a man personified in evil, add one control FBI freak sitting in the company of a Justice Department Agent, in the dinning room of a big house, personified evil cooking over a naked flame, polite dinner conversation and let your imagination soar.