hannibal

As a sequel to silence of the lambs, it was disappointing, but
as an adaptation of the book, it was quite good. That said, the
amount of hype surrounding the film's release, it was always
going to fall short of everyone's expectations. The pace was
sluggish and although Sir Tony was excellent in the role once
more, the plot lacked the urgency of 'silence'. The best scenes
of the movie were those filmed in Florence, these were full of genuine suspense and thrills.

Any shortcomings were made fully apparent as soon as the action relocated to America. The film lacked any direction in these scenes and it was hard to follow where the film was heading, without reading the book. The obsession of Gary Oldman's charcter with Lector was only skimmed over, and that I think was one of the film's biggest problems and a mistake in my opinion. The final act lacked any suspense or excitement whatsoever and although it was bags of fun, it was the biggest disappointment.

The reason why the first two films ("Manhunter" & "Silence of the Lambs") worked was that Lector was secondary to the main plot, helping the FBI with investigations into other serial killers/sociopaths. Here Hannibal is the main attraction and unfortunately, he isn't that interesting when given a canvas all to himself. Let's hope that the third installment is based on better material.

My Rating: 5/10