Red Dragon Reviews!

Norton as Graham was my main concern. From the pictures I just could not see him as being a decent Graham. I'm still nto sold on the idea that he is the best person to play the part, however I did enjoy his performance. I was afraid he would remind me of some bobbling college kid with that slightly bleached hair, but instead I found that I actually liked him in the role. In the beggings of his visits with Lecter, a few of his lines seemed forced-- "You had certain....disadvantages" I just never have liked the way he said that. I did rather enjoy seeing him being sliced up by Lecter and nearly shot to death by Graham, but I found myself wondering how lucky can one man get to be saved twice by fatal wounds? Oh well, anything's possible.

I was totally blown away by the character of Reba. Watson was totally convincing as a blind person. I loved the scene where she cut a piece of the pecan pie up for Dolarhyde, as it seemed completely authenticate. BLOOPER ALERT! I noticed a blooper with her character. In the tiger scene, it shows a close of up her face with her hair tucked behind her ear. Cut to her rubbing the tiger. Cut back to Reba and her hair is fluffed around her ears. Cut back to her fondling the tiger (witch I thought was a bit much) and then back to her once more and her hair is fixed again. I caught it during my first viewing, but wasn't for certain because it happened so quick. Upon the second viewing I was ready and caught it VERY easily.

Anthony Heald as Chilton was GREAT! There was not a better comical element in the movie than him. The mere showing of his face made me want to bust up laughing. It was also good to see Frankie Faison back in here as Barney. Go Barney!

Ralph Finnes was brilliant as Dolarhyde. I don't think that they could have made a better choice. He just had this quality about him which I haven't been able to find the words to describe yet, but for me he is the only red dragon. Also, he has quite a nice body *wink wink* that fit that lovely tattoo rather well. I wonder if the general audience who did not read the book understood the relationship between Dolarhyde and his grandmother-- the reason behind his madness. I wasn't sure it was so easily seen.

Last but not least, Tony. Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony. What more can I say. Of course Tony is the only man made to play Lecter. And he displayed Lecter in all his splendor here. However, I found myself wanting more and more Lecter time, uncontent with what I was given. Scrap Norton and just give me Hopkins.

I couldn't help but laugh throughout the entire film. Knowing everything that would come ahead was too funny for me. Seeing Lounds on fire, flying down the street was hilarious. My complaints here were that the script and film made too much resemblance to SOTL. I'm sure this was intentional, right up to the font that was used on the captions. It seemed a bit too hokey for me. Near the end, hearing Graham repeat words that would be used in SOTL by Lecter to describe Jame Gumb was over the top. I was also mad when Lecter's letter to Graham did not contain anything about the colostomy bag. I always enjoyed that little Lecteresque quality and here they chose to neglect it.

I have one question though: what was it with the Buddha figures in Lecter's office? I didn't understand that.

All in all a good film. Good more for laughs more than a scare to me. To me, this movie was nearly the same as SOTL, sans Clarice, insert Graham. I'd recommend it to anyone, but wonder how much different it would have been had the same cast and crew made this before SOTL.

Yours,

The Mad Doctor

Hello All-

It's going to be very difficult to say something about this film that hasn't already been said, but I'll try not to bore you all to distraction.

First of all, let me say that I thought this was a GOOD film..not a GREAT film, and here's why:

To me, the film had sort of a "been there, done that" feeling to it. We know this is more or less a 'remake', even though I hate to admit it. But in all fairness, three cheers to Brett....what a noble feat!

Tally's script also had a "didn't I hear this 12 years ago?" thing going on, but I liked it.

Hopkins was amazing and definitley hasn't lost his touch...he IS Hannibal, whether he likes or not.....LOVED the ponytail and opening sequence, but felt it was a bit rushed...I could have used ALOT more of that pre-incarceration stuff, but of course, the movie had to move on and move on it did....

Sorry folks, but Norton annoyed the crap out of me...and I don't even know why.

Keitel as Crawford?...Ok...but I like Glenn a halibut lot more...lol...

Heald and Faison...always a pleasure. Wish we could have seen a bit more of them.

But who stood out the most?...Why, Fiennes and Watson, of course! If they both don't get nominated for at least a Golden Globe each, the fix is in. Astounding work!

The Lecterbuddies and I discussed certain aspects of the book vs. movie and it's alot to put in here, but let's just say that we were a bit disappointed some parts didn't follow the book as much as we thought it would.

Also, we could gauge the audience's reaction pretty well all throughout the film. When Lecter was on screen, you could hear a pin drop and the audience laughed and truly enjoyed his moments, but when he WASN'T on screen, they actually began to fidget. And one Lecterbuddy in particular had her own "popcorn scale" going on.....when Lecter was on screen, NO popcorn was munched...when he wasn't, the bag began to be consumed in large handfuls.....and she wasn't the only one who followed this amusing practice, so I'd say the audience "Popcorn Scale" is a pretty good judge of just how much American audiences love Lecter!

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give this a 7....

Helene and her Lecterbuddies!

Our dear boy Brett Ratner was given quite the arduous task...I doubt even the mariners spoken about in a Chaucer novel or the burning literary might of Marcus Arrelius would be quite up to the task of adapting the great Red Dragon book. Indeed, thomas Harris crafted what has to be the greatest written novel I have ever read.

When word came that upon the success of Hannibal, that ol Dino would be readapting Red Dragon I immediately took notice. Why, a faithful modern adaptation of Red Dragon sounded like a sheer masterpiece in the waiting. With Silence of the Lamb's Ted Tally back on board as the scribe, and an astonishing cast on board...the only question in everyone's mind was the director. Whereas broad strokes upon the palette of a buddy cop franchise seems to be his forte, how would he be able to take on the first and final of the Hannibal trilogy?

Well, I have just come back from the opening showing of Bret Ratner's Red Dragon. Our little pilgrim must have thought of himself as quite the Hollywood stud, a pristined auteur groomed for greatness...riding ont he architecural backbone of cinematic genuis. Why it would have to take Joel Schumacher himself to muck up Ted Tally's script of Thomas Harris breathtaking novel.

However, from the opening scene it is clear we're being served the d'houvres of ham handed segways and hack cinematic sweatbreads. Ratner blows his load in the first 15 minutes, having what is typically the end of a film(the great epic power strugle between two arch types in a room) at the beginning. And like a certain other 'film about a lonely psychopathic photo lab man who stalks a family'(Mark Romanek's One Hour Photo, which got butchered in the final editing process) we get a pretty good sense of what could have been. Next we are treated to Ratner's homage to the title sequence of Se7en, as the killer flips through his cryptic ornate scrapbook with the opening credits. Real original, and pretty bad the original bad boy serial killer story is ripping off countless imitations.

It occured to me early on in development how irate it seemed people were labeling this a 'Manhunter' ripoff. Even Ratner himself cried foul at this charge. But let me set the record straight. Not only is most of the first half a direct line for line near scene-for-scene remake of Manhunter(save for the tongue-and-cheek opening), ratner even tries to disguise his shameful directing by covering Silence of the Lambs graphiti all over the place. From the absolute Silence ripoff score by the usually original Danny Elfman, to the use of the city titles straight from SOTL...to even the painstakingly shot for shot remake of Clarice original encounter with Lecter...It becomes clear early on Ratner has no original vision of his own. No, it is quite clear he has tried to decorate his primitive mad scribblings with the pain of other painters.

What's worse, is that he throws in so much 'oh the audience will laugh at this' type of banter between Edward Norton's Will Graham and Hopkins's Lecter that we are taken out of the hypnotic state we were introduced to in Silence. PErhaps Lecter has become such an inconic screen figure that anything written for him automatically becomes fodder for audience laughter. The scare factor in Silence, turned hammy dandy effitte hasbeen in Hannibal(Okie Dokie!) to Red dragon, where Hopkins seems to be a bit of a parody of his original self.

I realize it is the liberty of Ratner and Tally to take liberties, borrowing scenes from other Lecter books. The infamous 'census taker' scene in Silence was from the book Red Dragon; likewise the opening dinner scene is from Silnce of the Lambs. Why couldnt we have had the 'Mind Palace' talked about in Hannibal(the book)? Or other great opportunities for great memorable scenes.

But here's the key part of what's gravely wrong with Red Dragon. The loss of urgency. While Manhunter may have not have been the most faithful adaption, it works leaps and bounds over this one. Scenes like the finding of Dolarhyde's note in Lecter's cell and the subsequent down to the minute decryption of it now seems like a college script read. Manhunter worked as this taught, urgent thriller with a definate mood and setting. And yes, Hannibal lacked the urgency of SOTL, but that was more an existential extrapolation piece(Well, the book at least) But Red Dragon? Adapted from what is by far the best of all the Harris books? One cant help theyve heard this all before, but done with more delicacy in Michael Mann's Manhunter.

Also, Red Dragon DOES NOT capture the feel nor the look of the 80's at all. Not one bit. Isnt Red Dragon suppose to take place in the mid 80's? Why do the Leeds have Mrs. Doubtfire(released in spring of 94 on the home market) on vhs? Its this and many other snafus that'll have you scratching your head.

And where the heck are all the surreal dreamlike scenes, as imagined when we read the book? Even Mann knew to have surreal scenes. Why couldnt they have had cgi of the Red Dragon painting ala that one Russle Crowe scene towards the end of The Insider? One of the main things that interested me int he prospect of a remake was the idea of the Brooklyn Art Museum scene...but that too is thrown away and not even really explored. I imagined this great blood epic, but instead it is treated as a chore that could easily be edited out.

No wonder the audiences laughed at a lot of the film, even at parts they werent suppose to(I guess this is a common trend from other reviews I have read) Fienne's performance seems more fitted to Saturday Night Live than to Red Dragon.

So all the urgency that should hit you like a punch to the gut(when Grham relaizes HOW he is choosing his victims) is deflated, and given up to in jokes about Lecter gormet in his cell and other garbage. And the time between Dollarhyde and Reba in his house goes on for way too long...I mean really too long.

to add insult to injury is the last battle, which is a joke. And to add insult to injury, Ratner throws at us a little wink and a nod to open up Silence of the Lambs. Please.

As Lecter might surmise, this film is not worthy of being on the same level of his character...and feels more at home with the droll garbage Freddy Lounds would spat out.

They said it'd take a lot for Ratner to screw up Tally's great script. Looks like he did just that...though I cant help but think if this is by the script, Tally's scribe wasnt all that to begin with.

My final impressions, is that while I left Hannibal in sheer disappointment to say the least...I left Red Dragon with absolute sickening dismay.

Do I have bad things to say about Red Dragon? Okie Dokie, I have "Oodles!"

Red Dragon is mesmerizing!

Yesterday, I was invited to the Montreal premiere of Red Dragon, the remake of the 1986 version of the book by Thomas Harris. At the time, they named the movie Manhunter. Well, what can I say about the movie!? First of all, it can�t compare to Manhunter! Manhunter was not faithful to the book as Red Dragon was! Even though I prefered William Peterson as Will Graham, Edward Norton delivered a great performance! A fan of the book could say that Norton was too young looking to play Graham! I tend to agree, but his great acting talent make for it! Secondly, Ralph Fiennes demonstrated that he is one the greatest actor out there! Before seeing that movie, I only remembered him from the English Patient which I didn�t see, but my God, he looked as crazy as you would think Francis Dolarhyde would look! The plus in Red Dragon is that they painted the Red Dragon on his back which they did in Manhunter but was then cut from the movie! Somebody could ask why and I would totally understand, because it�s one of the base of the story! The killer wants to become powerful and feel like God by becoming the Red Dragon! Emily Watson as Reba McClane was stunning! An award winning performance if you ask me! Check her out at the next Oscar for best supporting actress! She was very convincing as Dolarhyde�s blind love interest! We could actually believe that she was blind, but could at the same time see fear in her eyes when she was trapped by Francis! Better performance than her counterpart in Manhunter! Harvey Keitel as Jack Crawford! Well, that�s a role played by three different actor. Dennis Farina in Manhunter and Scott Glenn in Silence Of The Lambs. From what I read in the books, I always pictured Crawford as the stoic Scott Glenn! Harvey Keitel did a great job, but it was a forgetable performance for him! Philipp Seymour Hoffman....well, well, well! He was just perfect as the bastard reporter Freddie Lounds! He wanted to play Francis Dolarhyde at the beginning, but I tend to think that he was better suited for the reporter which he did! You�ll love him when you�ll see the movie! Before I forget, Anthony Heald returned as the psychiatrist that we love to hate, Dr. Fredrick Chilton! He was exactly like in Silence and I�m kind of desperate to see him in more movies. Frankie Faison who did Barney in Silence and Hannibal came back with his role! What can I say about him......he really didn�t change since Silence and he can boast himself by saying that he was in 4 movies including Hannibal "the cannibal" Lecter. The funny thing is that he did two times the same movie, Manhunter and Red Dragon! Finally but not least, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter! Well, he was certainly great as ever. He gave me chills! He played Hannibal a bit differently this time. He was a little bit more evil and less charming than in Silence. He did some stunts like in Silence and Hannibal with some funny lines, but it was very well placed! It didn�t changed the mood of the movie!

Now, the story was amazing! It was exactly the same as in the book! Thomas Harris must be proud, because he never liked Manhunter because it failled to do what Red Dragon just did! Give the book what it deserves....greatness! Personally I loved Manhunter, but come on, Red Dragon is in another league! Manhunter was hit by the 80's with the pastel colors and the Miami Vice style which Micheal Mann, funny enough was the writer for! Red Dragon gave a nice nod to Manhunter with some pastel color here and there! I noticed it because I saw Manhunter! Red Dragon incorporated two part in the movie that was not in the book! First of all, the arrest of Lecter and then a surprised at the end of the movie which I can�t tell, but let me just say that it gave me chills and it was a nod to Silence! Loved it......the crowd actually praised with some applauses! Brett Ratner did a great job all in all with the magnificiant script by writer Ted Tally who also did the script for Silence Of The Lambs! The score for the movie is a must buy! Danny Elfman did a great job with the movie! It was very intense. Everything was just perfect in my mind! At the doors after the movie, I heard a guy saying that he was waiting for more! I think that it might happen for those who never read the book, but for the ones who did, they will know that it was the best they could do! Was it better than Hannibal? Completely and easily. Was it better than Silence Of The Lambs? Well, I�d have to say that it was equal to Silence because I just don�t want to say it was better! A thing is sure though, it was the most terrifying chapter in the Hannibal Lecter trilogy! 4 stars!

I'm not going to go into a background story, as I believe that frequent visitors of your site are well aware of the details included in the book. I will begin by saying that I believe that Brett Ratner has crafted a thrilling movie that had me engrossed from beginning to end. Everything from the mood Ratner sets to the actual look of the film is top notch. The grainy texture of the film is reminiscent of not only SotL, but of a movie that would have actually been filmed pre-SotL(pre-1991). Kudos also have to go out to Kristi Zea, not only for recreating something so important as Lecter's frightening cell, but for the little things like recreating Crawford's office with that indelible light blue paint on the walls.

If I may, I'll start with a brief synopsis of each major character.

Will Graham: Initially I thought Ed Norton was wrong for the part(too young, possibly?), but his nuanced performance is a sight to behold. He's a quiet, cerebral, family-oriented man that once lured back onto the case will stop at nothing to capture Dolarhyde.

Francis Dolarhyde: Ralph Fiennes is excellent. A very disturbed, haunted killer. Surprisingly, though, he manages to draw sympathy from the audience due to the horrors encountered as a child as well as his physical disability.

Reba McLain: Emily Watson is so likable in this movie. As with Dolarhyde, Reba also draws audience sympathy, but not for her disability. Instead, the audience cares about her well-being after she finds herself getting involved with Dolarhyde.

Jack Crawford: Obviously, for continuity purposes, and in a perfect world, Scott Glenn would have been back to reprise his role from SotL. However, because the actor Scott Glenn never acted with the actor Ed Norton in SotL it made it easier to accept, and surprisingly enough I never really missed Glenn. Harvey Keitel is great.

Dr. Frederick Chilton: I was so psyched when I heard that Anthony Heald would reprise his role as Dr. Chilton. The basis for his utter hatred of Lecter is set up superbly. He appears to hate Lecter not because Lecter's an imprisoned killer, but because Lecter is his intellectual superior.

Freddie Lounds: Great performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a weasely tabloid reporter, but very little screen time.

Molly Graham: Mary Louise-Parker is very believable as the beloved wife to Norton's Graham. Also, not much screen time.

Barney: As with Heald, I was ecstatic that Frankie Faison reprised his role. It was so important to bring back the three main characters of the asylum. The three being Dr. Chilton, Barney, and of course...

Dr. Hannibal Lecter: Anthony Hopkins plays Lecter brilliantly. He's very lethal, yet refined. He's the same guy that made you fall in love with him in SotL. Lecter is very comfortable with Graham due to their previous working relationship before Lecter's capture. Lecter hates Graham and enjoys taunting him. He doesn't shy away from putting Graham and Graham's family in danger. You have to believe that Lecter wouldn't associate with Dolarhyde outside of his confines. Not because of Dolarhyde's disability, but because Lecter would consider him rude, discourteous, and unrefined. But because their collaboration's desired outcome puts Graham's family in harm's way, he does it. Hopkins plays him in a way that differs slightly from his performance in SotL. He looks forward to encounters with Graham in a different way than he did with Starling. Lecter enjoyed Starling's visits because she was a worthy challenger and showed great inner strength and drive, and Lecter genuinely liked her. In contrast, Lecter views Graham's visits as an opportunity to belittle and toy with him. Hopkin's injects a very dark wit to his lines, while at the same time avoids being too cute. Overall, a fantastic performance by Hopkins.

It pains me to say this, but this movie is not perfect. Because the vast majority of the book is included in the movie, some scenes seem forced (ex. Dolarhyde visiting the museum to view the original painting of The Red Dragon seemed hurried.) However, as with SotL, Ted Tally did an excellent job with the translation from book to screenplay. It would have been helpful, though, if the story would have incorporated a bit more of Dolarhyde's hideous upbringing, to assist the viewer that has never read the novel to better understand his madness.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that Ratner hit the nail on the head with this one. Red Dragon will undoubtedly go down as being his greatest accomplishment thus far, and possibly ever. Given his previous light fare, that might not be saying much, but this movie is that good. Not as good as SotL, but better than Manhunter by leaps and bounds. How Manhunter has remained a cult favorite is a mystery to me. Given the source material I can understand the argument that Manhunter is a fascinating tale, but to hear that it's better than SotL, or that Brian Cox's Lecter is superior to Hopkin's Lecter...I can only shake my head in disbelief. Danny Elfman's score hits the mark as well. I can't decide if the music is better than SotL or Hannibal, but maybe that is because so many of the sounds are reminiscent of Shore's and Zimmer's respective scores. The movie begins with so much tension, starting with the awesome Lecter capture and doesn't lose steam until after the credits roll. Without giving anything away, I will say that the ending differs from the book ever-so-slightly. However, it's so smartly written that even those purists out there will not be disappointed. And the final scene with Lecter...absolutely priceless. This is a perfect companion piece to proceed the masterpiece that is The Silence of the Lambs. I truly believe that a fan of SotL will love Red Dragon. Go enjoy.

That's my review, and I'm stickin' to it!

Li'l Lecter