I had hopes for this one since Gladiator was pretty OK, certainly an indication of that perhaps his capabilities hadn't completely vanished. Those hopes quickly flew out the window. It is quite impossible to imagine this directed by the same man who gave us Alien and Blade Runner, since there is virtually none of the control of the medium here, that he displayed in those movies. What a waste of time and money, but it will still be a big box-office success, and a movie which sells itself, despite its sloppy execution. Hannibal is an utterly inept movie, perhaps more so to readers of Harris novel. The book was a real page-turner, cleverly plotted and impressively constructed. The screenplay, however, while with a pretty clever new ending, rushes through several important scenes, abandons some dramatic set-pieces which would have been great, and re-constructs some subplots so that they completely loose their dramatic potential. There is also a brief scene which is in direct contradiction to events described in "Silence of the lambs". What remains is a movie which is sketchy, un-atmospheric, undramatic, devoid of characterization and is always effective in reminding us that were only watching a movie, due to the fact that it's style is reminiscent of an extended rock video. It serves only to push the viewer OUT of the movie. Do we need the incessant, boring music on every scene? Do we really need the supposedly "scary" ambient sounds to underline the fact that Lecter is an evil dude? Do we need to have plot twists signalled way too early and loud? Do we need this movie? No. Since visiting Florens recently I felt compelled to re-watch Hannibal and perhaps re-evaluate it. Sadly I almost find it more inept and lazy the second time around. Ridley must have directed it from the back of a limo. possible spoilers The Italian detective is made out to be a loser from the first time we see him, is he going to be the guy who catches Lecter? No way. In the book he seemed to have a decent chance at least. What I still find mind-boggingly amateurish from a director such as Ridley is the staging of Lecters attack on the nurse seen through a surveillance camera. The event as it is described in the book, and in SOTL, has Lecter lying down, strapped on a bed. Hopkins delivers when he can, which is not often enough here, and sadly there is no authenticity to the Florens scenes, there is too much of a "big-name actor sits at a café in Florens surrounded by a large film crew"-feeling. I would have liked to see Hannibal directed by William Friedkin in his French Connection mode. A documentary approach would have grounded the story somewhat, as it did in The Exorcist.
