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Life & Arts

Iconic Hannibal Lecter bites in new installment

by JAKE HAMILTON
The Daily Cougar

There are few characters in the history of film that have more bite than Dr. Hannibal "the cannibal" Lecter.

First brought to life in 1986 by Brian Cox in Michael Mann's Manhunter (an adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel Red Dragon), the character would eventually become iconic after Anthony Hopkins became Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs in 1991, for which he won an Oscar.

Years later, Hopkins would go on to play Lecter twice more in film adaptations of the rest of Harris' novels, including the highly successful sequel Hannibal and the mildly successful prequel Red Dragon.

Needless to say, Lecter is not your average bad guy.

When Harris adapted another novel into a screenplay to give the audience the background of the mesmerizing character, fans of the infamous cannibal were help but be intrigued. Upon viewing, however, they may have trouble staying awake.

Hannibal Rising, the first Hannibal movie without Hopkins in 16 years, reaches all the way back to the character's horrific experience as a child, when a merciless and starving Nazi soldier eats his sister after Lecter's parents were killed. Years later at medical school, he acquires a taste for revenge against those who did him wrong so many years ago.

None of the Hannibal movies were particularly fast-paced, so it's understandable that Hannibal Rising would be no different. 

Hopkins, however, always managed to be so magnetic and intriguing that viewers didn't care how long the move took -- they couldn't take their eyes off him. While he was the personification of evil, he was also incredibly likable. You almost secretly found yourself cheering for him.

Gaspard Ulliel, charged with the difficult task of following in Hopkins' footsteps, brings no charm or charisma to the character, reducing what was once a fleshed out, three-dimensional icon to a whiny kid with a chip on his shoulder. Ulliel should be commended for not simply ripping off Hopkins. Still, the Hannibal the audience knows is not present during this film.

Perhaps the biggest disservice to the Hannibal legacy is the newfound necessity to explain why he is such a monster. One of the most fantastic elements of Lecter's exploits was that he was shrouded in a haze of mystery. Viewers knew him, but not what made him tick. He was fascinating and no one knew why.

Once Harris takes his beloved cannibal and strips the mystery away, essentially pulling the rubber mask off the monster, we're left with something that wasn't what we began with and we stop becoming scared of it. 

Harris and director Peter Webber have stripped away the enigma, and while they were at it, stripped away everything that made Lecter terrifying.

The score and production values were decent, though certainly nothing to stand and applaud for. Harris' script, on the other hand, is nothing more than a string of idiotic cannibal puns, and the rest of the performances are terrible reactions to Ulliel's already terrible attempt at explaining Hannibal with his single raised eyebrow.

Lecter has somehow found his way from being one of the best characters in the history of film to a punch line similar to Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees.

Fans of Lecter can only watch in horror as their classic icon slowly makes his transformation from a savory dish into a cheap fast food meal -- one that is prepared sloppily and easily forgotten as you make your way out the door.

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