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Mickey Knox raves about Ridley Scott's "new masterpiece," HANNIBAL
Folks, Harry here... Recently the industry has been quite proud of the numbers generated in January's Box Office.... Apparently it set new records and the theater owners and folks in suits are all rather happy, unless they've just been fired by TIME WARNER AOL.... Well... they ain't seen nothing yet. Right now there is a buzz to see HANNIBAL like nothing I've seen in a while. At the SUPER BOWL party I was at.... surrounded by folks that could care less about film and more about the pigskin... When the HANNIBAL trailer hit.... they all fell quiet... followed by instant assurances that they would be seeing this movie. The only concern is this new girl they don't know that has been cast as Clarice.... BUT, for the rest of us that know that 'the new girl' is Julianne Moore.... Well, there's no doubt she's going to be brilliant as always. At this point in her career, she's in a stronger career point that Jodie Foster is... Now, Mickey Knox here is a long time spy/associate of mine in snake garden of California... and I hate him, cuz I want to see this film NOW!!! Here ya go...
Hey Harry, Mickey Knox here.
Recovered nicely from my trip to Sundance with a preview screening of "Hannibal".
Here's my Hannibal review:
Don't you love it when you walk out of a movie so exhilirated that you just can't stop thinking about it?
That's what I'm going through right now after having seen Ridley Scott's latest masterpiece, "Hannibal". Yep, it's that friggin' good.
Every set piece from the book (which, by the way I loved, even though the ending would never be accepted by a movie audience) is orchestrated with the beauty and finesse that Ridley seems to improve upon with each film.
This is a film that exists completely on its own, apart from "Silence". Julianne Moore is better in this film than Jodie Foster would have been. Ray Liotta is the most believably creepy and moronic Krendler that we could have hoped for. Hopkins is... well... he's had ten years to stew over just how Mr. Lecter has aged, like a fine wine, and he nails every scene. Never has evil been so charming.
And as for Oldman as Verger... you have to see it to believe it. I was worried that the make-up (apparently some new stuff they just designed especially for the movie) would look fake. It doesn't. Oldman and the makeup wizards have created one of the most memorable screen villains in recent memory.
And as for the ending, well... Ridley (as well as the MPAA) had the balls to bring us the gory details without a hint of hesitation. Thank God. Your jaw will be on the floor.
Not unlike "Quills" (which failed to achieve what this film does so beautifully), "Hannibal" is a celebration of the baroque lure of evil. Ridley is our Marquis de Sade here, and he has crafted not so much a horror film, a serial killer thriller, or even a romance... but a strange combination of all three.
The humor in the film hits the perfect tone for a film that is truly operatic. In the end, you will be laughing your ass off in all the ways that the filmmakers intended.
I know that this rave probably makes me sound like a studio fake-out... but trust me, this enthusiasm is completely sincere. "Hannibal" is Ridley Scott having the time of his life, and I for one, would like to thank him for it.
Mickey KnoxMeanwhile IGGY has also splooged on the film!
Just back from a screening of "Hannibal" and Ridley Scott and his team have masterfully crafted a film that remains faithful to both the book and the previous films. The fun begins right away, with the title credits which follow B&W pigeons around an Italian square as they tear apart specs of blood red meat and ends with a high crane shot revealing a portrait of the world's favorite psychiatrist composed out of the writhing pigeons.
Anthony Hopkins is chilling and the veneer of whimsy that covers Lecter's madness never waivers. Always in control, he makes it look absolutely effortless. Every moment he is on screen is riveting. There has never been a bad guy you want to root for more than Lecter.
Jody Foster is not remotely missed, as Julianne Moore slides instantly into the role of Clarice. She is a more mature agent, no longer treads timidly. The accent she affects may seem to some mere mimicry, but it works to complete the transition to Clarice.
The rest of the cast is outstanding. Gary Oldman is terrific as he brings to life Mason Verger's face, which is a patchwork somewhere between Senior Wence's fist puppet and the fetal Alien fresh out of John Hurt's stomach. Weasley Ray Liotta achieves true sliminess as Krendler, Clarice's FBI rival. Giancarlo Gianini is convincing as Pazzi, the Italian detective who stumbles across Lecter and tries to sell him out to Verger.
While David Mamet and Steve Zaillian can't replace Lecter's "fava beans/Chianti" icon, the acid wit one-liners they wrote for him renew his vicious sense of humor.
Hans Zimmer's chorus of haunted voices flow across the music track and keep up the ever present eeriness. The sound, while good, doesn't rise to the all time standard set by "Silence of the Lambs". SPOILER SECTION: HIGHLIGHT TO REVEAL AT OWN RISK:
The dinner party at Krendler's will be the scene which few will forget. People whose stomachs flipped when the monkeys were served at the banquet in "Temple of Doom" should come prepared to blow their Milk Duds into the next row.
The Lecter/Starling relationship which caused fans and Foster to grumble has been resolved cleanly. Off hand, the ending is satisfying. The epilogue will leave you thinking about airline food in a completely new way. SPOILER SECTION OVER: SAFE AGAIN
Iggy
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I feel dirty...
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first in talkback and first to say I cant fucking wait for this movie!
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and I have never thought being first was a big deal anyway..........damn, now I feel dirty....goody goody
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HANNIBAL looks good. Following GLADIATOR, Ridly Scott is somebody I'm really excited about... I love Julianne, loved the first fil, even loved the book... Hope they kept the part in which Lecter commands an army of man-eating pigs !
Can't wait for the 9th ! -
goody goody indeed
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i can't wait to see this movie!! This may come as a shocker, i'm not worthy to even post because I haven't even seen the first movie or read the book. But after Ridley reaffirmed my faith in Gladiator, and since I've grown to worship Anthony Hopkins..words cannot express! The dude abides
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As I have not yet had the opportunity to see the film, this is based mostly on the novel, though it appears from all I've read that the adaptation to screen will be mostly faithful. I think what is interesting about Hannibal, and what a lot of people missed, is two issues Thomas raises. We like to pigeonhole people, classify them in very black and white terms. This isn't the case in Hannibal, there is no catagorical distinction between "good" and "evil." Hannibal, the character, is not insane, is intelligent, well-mannered, charming in conversation--everything we think of when we think of the classic hero. Yet he commits the most atrocious acts; it is this dichotomy that makes him such an interesting character. Not only is he not set up as the "bad guy," we are encouraged to root for him. And in a superb piece of character development, when Thomas tells the story of Hannibal's sister and what happened to her when he was a child, we even can feel empathy for this character. Contrast this with Clarice, who in SofL was innocent, naive. Still a very capable agent, a very strong woman, but the blush wasn't quite off yet. Ten years later, Clarice has truly grown, and it seems just when she is on the rise, everything falls apart. Her life is in shambles, and who appears but Hannibal, giving her something to focus on. Theirs is such a complex relationship, I'm looking forward to seeing how Moore and Hopkins work together on screen; I hope we will be able to see this evolution of their individual characters and the evolution of their interaction. Issue number two, is of course the notorious ending. The reason I liked the ending, the reason I thought it worked, was because it was real. Sometimes, the "bad guy" wins. Sometimes, things don't go the way you would expect. I commend Thomas for having the courage to do that. I understand why they wanted to change this for film; what works on paper doesn't always work visually. But I hope the spirit of the original ending remains.
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Such a pity they had to change it. Well that person who thinks that movies like that glorifies bad people, listen man I don't think you ever thought of Leon bad no? . No one can decide who is bad or not. And give some credit to ppl's intelligence. And no one but Kubrick can affect on the audiance as he did with A Clockwork Orange. And he is dead. So chill will you? -
Thomas Harris sucks....the part in the book where it tells about his childhood and his sister is taken from an actual serial killer. His name was Andrei Chikatilo. His mom used to tell him stories about his sister ran off and was caught, killed and eaten by hungry people. Even in Silence of the lambs (which i love) Buffalo Bill is taken from actual serial killer Ed Gein. He's a damn hack that can't come up with his own characters. As for Hannibal...I read the book, thought it was cartoonish. Everybody around in Vergers room like the bad guys on the Super Friends. The ending was horrible, a total betrayal of the strong character Clarice Starling. I hope that they change that ending. It fine for hannibal to dine, but not her. And that's what I gotta say about that!
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Given that everyone says how faithful it is to the book, I can't see this being a good film. The book was horribly predictable, with every murder clearly signposted, and no genuine suprises in the plot. Even with the stupid dinner party thing at the end, you could see it coming but probably chose to think 'No... it couldn't possibly be that lame'. Hence the only real suprise being that, yes... it could be that lame.
As for Hannibal's sister/ motivation thing, that totally undermines the pigeonhole/ evil thing put forward earlier. In SOTL Hannibal was charming, intelligent and intriguing, and apparently killed for no other reason that he was just a bit eccentric like that. Explaining it all in such cheap terms actually allows the reader the chance to say 'Ah! a motivation' and a chance to explain why he kills people.
As such the character loses much intrigue. Furthermore, Hannibal doesn't kill anyone who - in the terms set out by the book - doesn't deserve to die.
There is no act of malevolence such as the swallowing of the nurses tongue referred to in SOTL. It's all corrupt cops, evil politicians and sexually deviant capitalists. How cliched.
And as for a villain who drinks martini's made from small boys tears... what is this? A goddamn nursery rhyme? -
And while I'm here, I would like to point out that at the end of the book, the bad guy doesn't win. Had Hannibal Lecter been the bad guy rather than the hero - which he is, only killing when in danger or to exact a moral revenge (such as the deer hunter) - you would be right. Instead the book gives a sanitised Hannibal, who no longer kills or maims on a whim.
Had the book gone for the 'bad guy wins' ending you say is realistic, Hannibal would have been fed to the pigs and Krendler would have destroyed Starling's career.
Come to think of it - that would have been a great ending. -
I'm not too sure but I can recall reading somewhere that Jonze won't appear in the film as the deer hunter. Then again, maybe he is. Anyone care to clarify?
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I cannot wait to feast my eyes on this. I can remember that the Hannibal teaser trailer really gave me genuine skin crawling chills by only using words on the screen like 'Don't let him into your head'. Wow. If the movie is going to do that for the duration of it's running time, my arse will be on the seat...... sweating.
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Bang on the money, if you ask me. the only villain in Hannibal with any back story is Mason Verger, and that's just to set him up as a bullying, incestuous pederest.
When you consider the people aligned against Lecter in the novel, it's hardly a clever trick to make him the most sympathetic character.
While Red Dragon was hardly subtle, the dynamic between Will Graham, the killer and Lecter is much more dramatic and came closer to acheiving the moral dilemmas people seem to think Hannibal is so rich in. There is nothing in Hannibal to match the killer falling in love and failing to suppress his murderous instincts, or the horror Will Graham feels at his sympathy with killers.
Hannibal doesn't even offer anything as eerie and twisted as the blind woman going down on the killer while he watches a video of him murdering a family. -
Jan 31, 2001 3:57:13 AM CST
I loved the book! And I feel that this film will be the best out
by gravyakira
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I attended a screening and agree with pretty much everything the reviewer said. Hans Zimmer's score is perfectly creepy in a romantic way. The sound in this movie is outstanding - a cut above other movies. From kick ass shootouts with bullets riccocheting from all directions to moments of creepy silence when you don't know what Hannibal's about to do - the sound is what makes you fear for anyone remotely near Lecter.
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Jan 31, 2001 4:03:35 AM CST
LOVE IT OR HATE IT EVERYONE WHO WRITES INTO THIS TALKBACK WILL S
by scott ridley
Now that's what I call a real buzz.....fuck all this LOTR and SW2 crap really we want to see people being killed and eaten. We are a sick and decadent bunch.Last time round Ridley gave us the Gladiators ripping each other to shreads, this time the animals are getting in on the act.Civilisation is being pushed further into decline by my favourite director and I'm as sick as the rest of you bastards because I can't fucking wait.
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... doesn't work for those of us
browsing with Lynx. We see the
whole thing spelled out in black
and white. I'm not expecting you
to change anything to accomodate
such a minuscule minority, I just
thought you should be aware. -
"Hannibal" looks amazing! I'm there!!
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It was dark at the end, but in his house, not a warehouse. And he had night-vision goggles on, not flashlights. Spooky scene it was. NOW, PUT THE LOTION IN THE BASKET!
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If anyone would actually like to see the results of a man peeling his own face off and feeding it to his pets as Verger has in Hannibal, such a picture can be found in a book called Practical Homicide Investigation. It's a cop text book. Harris couldn't even be bothered to come up with his own premise for Verger's disfigurement. It's word for word an account of a real guy who did it while on angel dust.
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tell me, truthfully and honestly, what did you think of the Directors cut of Bladerunner. explain to me exactly why this film is crap and why Ridley Scott is a hack. Also, just to prove you got it, I'd like you to explain the ending for me. And explain why this is not one of the best, most subtle, intelligent endings in cinema history.
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I was so upset by it, I just blanked out.
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Hey, kids. Let me weigh in with an insignificant opinion or two for half a sec... Read SOTL, then read Red Dragon right after the SOTL movie came out and was pretty impressed. Harris is NOT Billy Shakespeare, but he could get his point across. So natch, I was excited to see Hannibal in the bookstores. So excited I dropped full retail. Then after reading the first three chapters, I dropped a load in me BVDs. Pure unadulterated Dreck (with a capital D)! I couldn't quite believe that this was the same writer. I finally skimmed my way thru the book, and it didn't seem to get worse (but then, when you're already flying low, how much lower can you go?) NTS, I was not overly impressed. So when I read in EW (these were my pre-AICN days) that they had "fixed" the script, I found my enthusiasm slowly returning. I have some respect for Ridley, he pulled off Gladiator despite a script that looks like something I would write, and I hope he can do the same here. SOTL (movie) was fun for this old Hitch fan because it took some gripping characters and then exploited some good ol' primal fears (anyone else sleep with a nightlight after seeing that climax?) The trailers have shown me that someone has tried to preserve that same spirit here. Thank goodness! I'll be on line with my $8.00 (+ tax).
10-Q! ~pS~
PS from pS
And thank god I don't have to look at Jodie Foster this time around! Suck on that, Hinckley-ites! -
Kids, I know I just posted, but I ran into this nasty little newsbit at the Drudge Report after I finished here. It's about some Doctor in London who has been "illegally retaining" the body parts of dead kids and fetuses. This link takes you straight there: http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=355910&in_review_text_id=300696 and this link takes to http://www.drudgereport.com for some related stories. Damn, this makes Hannibal look like a freakin' piker.
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Harry,
Let me preface this with the fact that I am a Thomas Harris fan. Regardless of that fact, the first time I read Hannibal I found the ending a little too much but entertaining nonetheless. I just finished reading the novel a second time and "after further review" I found the ending much less preposterous, even believable. Maybe because I knew what was coming I was more receptive to plot elements that layed the groundwork for Clarice's fate. Between the treatment she received at the hands of FBI and later treatment from Lecter I think many people, especially people who have killed (i.e. Starling) would be most susceptable to Lecters ministrations. Lets not forget he talked a Miggs into swallowing his own tongue; granted Miggs was 9 yards shy a first down but the fact remains.
Harris took the falling from grace theme and rearranged it such that grace wasn't what you thought it was. A career in bureaucratic law enforcement?!? Come on Clarice, to quote Kubrick "You're a killer!"
If I worked hard all my life to attain a certain career status only to have the rug pulled out from under me by some paper pushing toadies and all my friends were gone I would have issues. Especially if I did everything they asked of me with distinction and excellence. Couple that with their shared orphanhood and Clarice was ripe for Lecters taking. Granted hypnosis and drugs were used but so was his mammoth intellect. The ending was no different from stories we hear of perfectly well adjusted and educated people ending up in cults.
Initially when I heard that Mamet was doing the screenplay, I had hoped that production studio's paper pushing toadies not unlike Krendler the studios wouldn't opt for a kinder gentler ending but I understood the reticence and rationale. Mamets initial script just sounded like a high brow VH-1 Natural Born Killers to Stone's MTV version. From what I have read of the film reviews several plot elements were altered. This should not surprise me considering hollywoods unwillingness to gamble. Granted theirs is a high stakes table and they sadly must go for mass appeal to the legions of movie going cattle. They should know that the viewers aren't or at least shouldn't be leaving the theatre with the warm fuzzys. I am pretty sure they still won't but it sounds a little diluted from what might have been. Hopkins Lecter is still one of the most compelling characters I have ever seen in cinema, up there with Michael and Vito Corleone (they were serial killers too but each had intellect and depth also). So they will wring my 8 or 9 or 10 bucks out of me on opening day just the same, but not because of Hollywood the credit there lies with Hopkins and Harris. -
This movie is going to suck...'cause the book BLEW!
"Hannibal" was T.Harris' F.U. to the characters he created and the fans who came to like them. I believe Harris was tired of the series and wanted to ashcan it once and for all, he succeeded admirably.
You folks who can't wait to see it must be the same ones that flocked to see THE CELL. Which also had a stupid plot, which was covered up by "Gee Whiz" imagery and over-the-top gore.
Save your money, see if your local hospital will allow you to observe autopsies, or maybe the slaughterhouse on the outskirts of town needs some parttime help. -
This whole plotline of a man peeling off his own face reminds me of THE greatest scene in any horror film, in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, when leatherface saws off the face of JD and then gives to dj Stretch as a gift and puts it on her face and after leatherface leaves, JD wakes up in pain and sees his own face on his friend Stretch, who's tied up and can't take the skin of her face!!!! Brilliant scene. It's gruesome, sick, funny, sad, etc. Nothing in Hannibal (yawn) will top this scene.
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'member Multiple Miggs? I miss that little freak!! Give him the prequel story!
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I have a copy of the Mamet script and it was loathesome! It was boring but had some good one-liners in it. I hope Zilligan's script is much better. I tried to think of what the movie would look like when I first read it in '99, and I think R. Scott has pulled it off when I look at the trailer.
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This is my first time posting.I am sure that you can tell by my userid who my favorite movie character is!Duh!All kidding aside,if what I hear is correct then I will probably not have anything to eat at the movie.I loved Silence of the Lambs and I plan on watching it before I see Hannibal.Did anybody see Billy Crystal at the academy awards(not sure which year)come out like Hannibal at the beginning of the awards show.I had to laugh.I believe that Hopkins was very impressed by it.
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Thomas Harris is in no way the first to use serial killer Ed Gein as a basis for a serial killer. The first was Tobe Hooper whose Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Learherface owes much more to Gein than Buffalo Bill does. Anyway, I don't see why Harris should be blamed for using real serial killers or real facts as a basis for his characters. Have any of you guys ever heard the phrase "art imitates life"?
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but I think that Leatherface bears more ressemblance to Gein than Norman Bates does because Gein did wear his victim's faces as masks.
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This one and ALI are the two films I'm looking forward to the most.
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I must say that yes the ending was a bit much at first glance, but think about it for a moment will you? You forget Lecter drugged Clarice for a very long time and somewhat re-shaped her psyche, he basically performed a drug induced brainwash. I'm surprised no one has mentioned this because it makes plenty of sense.
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The trend to glorify evil people like this is disturbing. Sorry, but in my book, serial killer's are evil. Period. Scum of the earth which should be put down.
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...about Julianne Moore, I still see her as a porn star in Boogie Nights. I also remember a scene in a Robert Altman movie (Short Cuts if I'm not mistaken) where she had no panties on. I do hope she keeps her clothes on in Hannibal because everytime I think of her it's in an partially undressed context.
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Meatsaballza.I just finished the book yesterday and i can't wait for this gawddamned movie.I can have fun fun pretending to underrstand what the italians are saying.Anyway isnt Frankie Faison (aka The Lloyd from the Stupids)a bit to puny and old to play barney,who can bench-press 350 pounds.Shoudnt they have cast Michael Clarke Duncan,him being a big black cool guy,like Barney.Did anybody see Riddley Scott's piece of shit movie,1492:Conquest of Paradise?And even though Ray Liotta's cool,shoudn't James Woods have been cast as Krendler?Spaghetini!
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