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| | Ten years passed since Dr. Hannibal Lecter escaped from custody, ten years since FBI Agent Clarice Starling interviewed him in a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. The doctor in now at large in Europe, pursuing his own interests, savouring the scents, the essences of an unguarded world. But Starling has never forgotten her encounters with Dr. Lecter and the metallic rasp of his seldom-used voice still haunts her dreams. Based on the novel by Thomas Harris.
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Its ten years since Jodie Fosters mesmerising Clarice
Starling captured lady-skinning murderer Buffalo Bill and Dr Hannibal The
Cannibal Lecter surreptitiously slipped the FBIs net. Now we discover the
liver-loving anti-hero is living it up in Italy as a Renaissance culturite, and
Starlings FBI career has taken a nosedive after a series of trigger-happy
mistakes. But already Lecters only surviving victim, the horrifically crippled
millionaire Mason Verger, is preparing to wreak revenge on the doctor and to
find him Verger desperately needs Starling back on the case. But will she rise
to the challenge now her career is on skid row?
At first critics were alarmed that original Silence of the Lambs director
Jonathan Demme and Starling actress Jodie Foster turned down the chance to
participate in this brilliantly executed sequel. They neednt have worried. With
Gladiator helmer Ridley Scott behind the camera, and Julianne Moore as the
beleaguered and haunted agent Starling, Hannibal is every bit as chilling as
its justifiably acclaimed predecessor.
Eschewing excessive gore and humour in favour of a darker, more sombre tone,
Scotts rendition is beautifully photographed throughout, the Florentine
architecture providing a disturbingly perfect backdrop to Lecters compulsive
mutilations. And Hopkins performance is astonishing ten years on, Lecters
aptitude for murder and torture remains as chillingly potent as ever. Gary
Oldman, as the appallingly disfigured Mason Verger, whose vengeful machinations
drive the plot, is also highly watchable.
Brimming with powerful images, Hannibal is certainly not for the squeamish a
sequence near the end with Ray Liotta might have some viewers covering their
eyes but to offset the darker tone, the film is intelligently written and
always amazing to watch, thanks to the fine cinematography and moody lighting.
Add it all up and Hannibal remains a charged, atmospheric sequel with enough
tension and plot twists to keep any film lover entertained.
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