Hannibal should have worked. It didn’t, though. Well, not all the way, at least: there were many fine moments in the film, and Scott did a fairly good job at directing, but the god-awful ending completely botched the Thomas Harris novel and 86’d any chance of a direct sequel (which may have been the point, but was a bad decision nonetheless). Instead, screenwriters went back to the original Red Dragon for a new story, and followed that up with an entirely unnecessary prequel, Hannibal Rising.
For all accounts and purposes, The Hannibal Lecter Collection is not a complete collection. The 3-disc set does not feature Red Dragon or Hannibal Rising (which is understandable, considering they were made by other hands) — which, depending on your point of view, might be a good thing.
The audio/video presentations vary here, with Manhunter (1080p/AVC) looking like it’s the best of the bunch. The first entry boasts a very solid contrast with some amazing colors throughout, although the video quality seems to take a nosedive some point during the second half of the film (there are also a number of jumpcuts towards the end that I don’t recall seeing on the old Anchor Bay DVD release). The 5.1 DTS HD MA lossless sound really lets loose when it needs to and does not disappoint. Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks are also on-hand. English SDH and Spanish subtitles are included, but there are no special features to be found here (so hopefully, you’ve kept on to that old Anchor Bay release, people).
The Silence Of The Lambs (1080p/MPEG2) does not fair as well as Manhunter, but it was a rather low-budget effort to begin with, so the little bits of grain throughout the film is not surprising. The rather bland color scheme, however, is surprising, and I honestly expected this film to look a lot better than it does. The main 5.1 DTS HD MA lossless audio comes through nicely, although this movie doesn’t go for the throat in terms of surround sound as it is. Other audio options include Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital, and Thai 2.0 Surround. Subtitles are provided in English SDH, Spanish, Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Thai.
Article comments
1 - Baronius
I never bothered to see any of the movies after Manhunter. Sequels are always disappointing, and the Brian Cox character was perfectly unsettling. Lambs, from what I understand, just played out the same scenario, but less believably, and the rest were even more outlandish.
2 - Luigi Bastardo
LAMBS is really only the other one you need see, if to compare and contrast Cox and Hopkins' portrayals. You could probably go without seeing the rest of the series -- especially seeing as how badly they butchered some of them.
3 - El Bicho
"Sequels are always disappointing"
Godfather II
4 - Luigi Bastardo
Nice.