Hannibal
A Brief Review Ridley Scott's
by Ryan Schubert
30 Sept. 2001

Seen it: once
Where: Theatre only
Gave it: 7 out of 10 (Recommended Viewing)

Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring: Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore
Director of Photography: John Mathieson
Original Score by Hans Zimmer
Screenplay: Thomas Harris and David Mamet
Runtime: 131 minutes
Released: 2001
Language: English

It is hard to believe how horribly embarrassing the Hollywood market has been for the past two years. Embarrassing in-so-far as our films are actually shown in other countries and create an impression of the kind of people we "Americans" are. Not based on how we portray ourselves in pictures (which is a whole other problem), but what sort of pictures we, as viewers of media, are willing to give up our hard-earned money to set our eyes and ears to. I cringe at the idea that some one in the homeland of Andrei Tarkovsky might rent Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and believe that all of us over here just love to eat that mess up.

Most of the "original" feature films of recent release have only turned out to be pale imitations of better films of times past. Even more embarrassing than Hollywood's hopeless attempts to create new ideas, is its unflinching, unwavering, and seemingly unstoppable industrial drive to crank out an endless buffet (for some time now) of abhorrently uncreative sequels and remakes. If one were to look at the history of sequels and remakes one would probably agree that most of the time remakes and sequels fail to live up to their predecessors. Remakes are unnecessarily produced because they fail to offer new insight into the territory explored by their older counterparts, and sequels usually don't do more than recycle characters and themes already beaten to death in their earlier installments.

Ridley Scott's production of the third film to involve Thomas Harris' serial killer-genius Hannibal Lecter is, quite thankfully, not another one of these never-should-have-been-made sequel cases. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Hannibal is one of those few sequels where A) you don't need to see the original (such as with The Mummy Returns) and B) it is actually better than the original (as with The Empire Strikes Back or the even-numbered Star Trek pictures). I have encountered a good deal of disagreement with this point of view, but I urge anyone who reads this to judge for themselves. There are certainly fine reasons for preferring either of the other two films, accomplished filmmakers directed both. Nevertheless, Scott's impeccable film making talents, for me, make this picture far superior.

Scott's films are nearly always visual masterpieces, regardless of their over-all quality, and this film is no exception. The film is beautifully shot by John Mathieson who worked with Scott on Gladiator (2000), and who will be photographing (or should I say cinematographing) the next Hannibal Lecter movie, Red Dragon, with Scott among the executive producers. Mathieson and Scott manage to make Venice seem both beautiful and foreboding all at once, creating a visual aesthetic that draws both from Scott's own masterpiece, Blade Runner, as well as some films of the Italian Horror genre.

As cinema is about sight and sound, it should be noted that the rich atmosphere created for this film would not have been possible without the excellent score by Hans Zimmer who, in recent years, has composed more fantastic film scores than most other film composers. Zimmer also scored Gladiator. Classical music lovers should also enjoy the use of Bach's "Aria Da Capo" from the Goldberg Variations, which blends perfectly with Zimmer's compositions.

Finally, I should not fail to make comment on the actors and acting in this film. Anthony Hopkins and Gary Oldman are, naturally, as creepy as ever. The European veteran, Giancarlo Giannini, gives an excellent dead-pan performance, as inspector Rinaldo Pazi, that is reminiscent of Harrison Ford's Deckard in (once again) Scott's Blade Runner. Lastly, I feel that Julianne Moore is a very good replacement for Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, Lecter's pet FBI agent. Moore is able to portray a level of strength and maturity that is normally quite alien to Jody Foster's casting decisions. For this very reason, some may feel that Moore's performance is against type for the character, but I would argue that it shows that the character has evolved in the downtime between episodes.

All in all, I definitely must recommend this film for viewing. It's one of the best things to come out of that awful dreck-pit that Hollywood seems to be sinking into, in the last few years. Also, I must apologize for my lack of plot coverage in this review. Quite honestly, I can't remember a darn thing about it. Don't let this discourage you. The aesthetic beauty of the piece is more valuable than the plot that ties it together.