For all of those Silence of the Lambs addicts out there who probably praise this film for it’s camp, yet shocking presentation of movie entertainment, I will apologise right now. I am very sorry, but I fail to see the point.
I will admit that I very much enjoyed Silence. The psychology aspect at the time was just what most people were looking for, but Hannibal for me just didn’t deliver. It was a film that did not inspire me or draw me into it’s dark creative little world, I have even failed to remember the names of the characters.
From the start of the film, there is very little connection between any of the characters. How am I supposed to throw myself into the plot and into the minds of our stars when all they are doing is basically thinking for themselves. I like the characters and I like what they do, but they shouldn’t do all of it on their own. Clarice and Hannibal are a classic example. The entire film is created solely for them and only them, but with this in mind, why is it that they do not speak, let alone meet until half way through the movie. Was this done to help increase anticipation, I don’t really care. Clarice didn’t actually want the damn case anyway, she was forced into it for the sake of the man with no face who for me was my one saving grace. I love every single thing that Gary Oldman does and this was no exception. He manages to make me hate him every time with every flawless sentence that he speaks.
And now for the blood. Throughout most of the film, the horror was carried out with poetic excellence. The italian abdomen, dark, and dramatically severe, along with the hogs and their stench of brutality were both superb, beautifully timed and adding to the mood that was being set, but then came the end of the film. Normally, I am a very shallow man when it comes to big screen entertainment, which is just what I want, shallow entertainment. However, the movie had set a dark mind tingling mood around itself and shallow entertainment would have spoiled it for me, so why bother. The dinner table scene to me was more of an interruption, kicking me out of the film for a few annoying minutes, before changing the film’s direction again and turning it into a violent love story. If you are going to show the audience that a character is in love with someone, there should be more interaction with whoever that person is in love with instead of a couple of mindless phone calls.
Please don’t take this the wrong way.
Most of the film is quite entertaining, and at points enjoyable, I just fell however, that the director did not accomplish what I think he tried to achieve. Having said all of this, it could have been the fact that I was coming down with the flu and wasn’t really in the mood to watch a film in the first place.