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�RED DRAGON� will rip your still beating heart out and throw it into the pit of depraved insanity. Flog my soul for not having ever seen �Silence of The Lambs� or �Hannibal,� but - spawns it! - that doesn�t matter as is this is the first movie in the trilogy of sick blockbusting films stylishly adapted from the Thomas Harris super-sellers. Anthony Hopkins is Dr Hannibal Lecter, and an even richer man now given the fees he asks to star in movies. The movie-makers had to comply with his �wants and needs� though, as no other actor could satisfactorily become such a unique character as Hannibal as old Ant, but Ed Norton as the good guy detective on the tail of psychopathic Ralph Fiennes (who is the �Red Dragon��. or at least that�s what the thinks he is!) both duly rise to the challenge and act their kid gloves off.
Competing with similarly-rooted scare-fests �My Little Eye� and �Halloween: Resurrection,� this is the realest deal and the most disturbing. I do think that violent fantasy can - and does - incite violent reality, and the piercing flashbacks showing the Red Dragons� victims with red-washed glints in their eyes somehow nipped past the blind censors. And like all shit-hot movies, just when you think the final end scene is over, a twist turns and there�s another totally unexpected climax of super-violence hell-bent on finishing as many film characters off as possible. Other directors who aim for a story this engrossing to work with must be green with envy that this slick and glossy thriller really is so so random stranger-killing good. (STEVE RUDD) |
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