Pluskylang Great Film overall
ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
morrison-dylan-fan Talking to a friend about what movies she had recently seen,I was intrigued to learn that she had seen "All 3" Lecter movies for the first time. Finding out that she had a box set that did not contain this or the original Manhunter,I was pleased to find one of the films at CEX a few days later,which led to me getting ready to see Hannibal rise.View on the film:Serving up the killing of Hannibal's parents with an over the top Rube Goldberg-style coincidence, director Peter Webber & cinematographer Ben Davis take psychological menace off the menu to cook up a straight-up gorefest. Peeling away to Hannibal's roots,Webber gives the European locations an elegant frosty appearance for the start-point of Hannibal's gentlemanly manner,which gets torn to shreds by the fantastic lashings of gore, sprayed by practical effects beheadings and samurai sword killings.Forced to write the novel and the screenplay at the same time after producer Dino De Laurentiis threatened to bring a hack in to do an origin story, (Mmm...Perhaps not the best way to help someone come up with a good plot Dino.) the screenplay by Thomas Harris shoves atmospheric horror to a side dish,and instead goes for a revenge tale (best served cold!) Sticking Hannibal with flashbacks to his family killers, Harris comes up with a grisly kill list,the episodic outline of which allows for a constant stream of splatter to flow. Faced with Dominic West randomly dropping his French accent as Inspector Popil, Gaspard Ulliel rises above the schlock on show to reflect the pristine, emotionally detached of Hannibal.A Craptastic 7/10.
Eric Stevenson I am now glad to say that I have seen every Hannibal movie ever made. I guess "Hannibal" is the name of the franchise. This is easily the worst of all these movies and it's so bad even fans of the series hate it. Well, I guess especially fans. This movie starts off by showing Hannibal's origin with how his parents were killed in a crossfire with Nazis. Seems like every origin story involves Nazis nowadays.His sister gets eaten and he goes on to avenge his sister by training with this woman where he learns how to swordfight. Yeah, the movie suddenly turns into "Batman Begins", a weird situation for Hannibal Lecter. The villains in this movie are so pathetic and unentertaining. This series was known for having some really cool villains, even Mason Verger from the supbar "Hannibal". This movie is stretched out over two hours as well. For me, it's just a waste of time. *1/2
mistoppi I've been wanting to see Silence of the Lambs and all the other movies again, but I decided to start with Hannibal Rising. Not because of chronological order, but mostly because Hannibal Rising feels so separate from them all. Mostly because Hannibal Lecter in this movie doesn't seem like Hannibal Lecter at all. That's mostly because in Silence of the Lambs (if I recall correctly) Starling asked Lecter why he is the way he is, what happened to him. Lecter replies with "Nothing happened to me. I happened." So everything that Hannibal Rising kind of nullifies that answer completely, thus changing Lecter's character far too much in my taste.This is why I wanted to watch this movie separately, to distance it from the others. It's more like a film about someone else named Hannibal Lecter than the same person. You can see Thomas Harris's skillful writing in the way how history is very present in the story. Not just as in "Harris definitely did his research" but like the war is present in everyone's and it comes up a lot, but that feels natural instead of like throwing in tragic backstories for everyone. But also there's less skillful writing present, inconsistencies in Hannibal's nature. Manners and respect are always important to Hannibal, and he murders a man just because he was rude to lady Murasaki, but he still kind of respects lady Murasaki's ancestors by using their sword, even though lady Murasaki explains she can only touch it once a year to clean it. So where's the line?Even if Hannibal in this movie doesn't feel like Hannibal, Gaspard Ulliel still makes an excellent performance. He has clearly watched sir Anthony Hopkins closely to get the same kind of manners, but also he's talented enough to not get too concerned with sir Hopkins' iconic portrayal. There's also something about the pace of the movie I don't like, mostly because of the beginning and Hannibal and Mischa as kids, however I'm not certain how I would fix that. Visually of course this movie is stunning, and they aren't too frugal with the amount of blood and gore. Violence feels more present in the other movies compared to this one. Hannibal Rising is a decent movie, and it could be good, but it feels all too distant compared to all the others. Something is missing, yet there's something new and intriguing. That would be good if it really felt the same.
Leofwine_draca Designed as a prequel to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (and MANHUNTER before it), this is a film that aims to show how Hannibal Lecter ended up as the human cannibal that we all know and fear. Many people criticised this film, arguing that familiarity breeds contempt and the more we learn about a killer's background and origin, the less frightening he becomes. They have a point, but they're also missing something: HANNIBAL RISING is a very well made and entertaining movie in its own right. My advice is to forget all about the connections with the later films and just enjoy this film on its own merits.It's a distinctly European film with a European sensibility and a young, French, unknown lead actor. It has a level of classiness that's not present in many an American film; a sheen of quality that sets it apart from the rest. The opening sequence, set in the latter days of World War 2 and detailing horrific events in Lithuania, is very well handled, full of foreboding, great effects, and sinister actions. It ably sets up the rest of the film, which turns out to be a revenge flick with the added intrigue of having the main character becoming more and more sick and twisted as the movie progresses.One thing that stands out is the quality of the cast. The unknown Gaspard Ulliel is weird and brilliant as the young killer, and you quite believe he's a sociopath. There's a romantic sub-plot that goes nowhere involving the lovely Gong Li (CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER) but it does serve to humanise the monster a bit. The ever-reliable Dominic West is also very good as the policeman investigating Hannibal's crimes, although his role is completely extraneous to the thrust of the film. The bad guys, too, are very well cast and all of them thoroughly despicable chaps: Kevin McKidd, Richard Brake, and in particular a cast-against-type Rhys Ifans all make an impact here.The violence that plays out is entertaining because the villains all deserve it: from the butcher slashed apart with a samurai sword to the guy strangled and eaten, these men are repulsive and their deaths well earned. Another highlight is that the film doesn't focus on the gore, either, not in a repulsive way like HANNIBAL; there's nothing stomach churning here. The cannibalism ends up as a sub-plot, really, not involved with the main film, but that didn't bother me too much. I enjoyed the pacing, the acting and the direction, and found all three of those elements assured and designed to entertain.
