Review: Hannibal

Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman

Director: Ridley Scott

Category: Horror

Reviewed By: Clay

Plot: Hannibal Lector is back and he is hungry.

DVD Special Features: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Commentary by director Ridley Scott, Theatrical trailer(s), 2 Disc set, Over 35 minutes of deleted scenes, Breaking the Silence - 5 unique making-of featurettes, Photo gallery, 3 interactive multi-angle featurette, Widescreen anamorphic format

The deleted scenes tend to be slow and not very interesting. The alternate ending rather anticlimactic (if you are looking for the book’s ending). I liked the deleted version better than the one that made the final cut.

The Breaking the Silence features are good. The section that talks about the Ray Liaotta dummy is great.

The Good: Hannibal is one of the great villains of all time. Anytime Hannibal is on the screen this movie rocks. You find yourself cheering this nightmare on and Hannibal delivers.

Julianne Moore keeps her end of the bargain. She is not Jodi Foster but I didn’t care. Once the black evening gown goes on, no one was missing Jodi. You have to respect Moore for taking the risk and doing this movie.

I won’t drop any spoilers into my review but I will say there is a great brain eating sequence that is a horror classic.

The Bad: There are a few sections of plot that wander aimlessly. If you watch all the deleted scenes, a few plot issues are cleared up or at least addressed.

This movie does not end like the book. For some this will be great, since the book’s ending has been sharply criticized. If you hated the book’s ending, then you will like the movie’s ending much better.

Bottom Line: Hannibal always rocks.

Rating: Four Cocktails