By Uncle Creepy (of Dread Central)
Zzzz ... zzzz ... zzzz ... Huh?! What's that?! There's a Hannibal Lecter movie going on? THE HELL YOU SAY! I haven't seen hide nor hair of Anthony Hopkins and I've been sitting here watching ... well okay, napping, for over two hours! Surely someone didn't make a Hannibal film without him! How could they?
Well I'll be.
Let's face it, folks — we live in a world in which everything is over-explained. There's just no mystery anymore. We have to know everything. At least that was Thomas Harris' take when he wrote the novel on which this film is based. Yep, our good Dr. Lecter's early years have been dissected, analyzed, and finally put to celluloid. So does it work? In a word — no.
Hannibal Rising has all of the stunning beauty of the other films in this franchise; yet, even that cannot save it from its own mediocrity. Let's start at the beginning ...
After his parents are killed, young Hannibal and his sister, Mischa, are held prisoner by a roving pack of would-be Nazis. Things get desperate for the men and their captives. So desperate in fact, that the group has to resort to cannibalism as a means to stay alive. Of course this not only develops Hannibal's taste for flesh but also drives him a bit mad. Fast forward a few years. Hannibal (played with much scenery chewing goodness by Gaspard Ulliel) sets out on his own to find the men who held him and his sister hostage way back when. What follows is your standard revenge tale which — dare I say it — lacks any real bite.
Part of the magic behind the character we all know and love was Hopkins' deliciously ghoulish portrayal. Ulliel isn't bad for what he has to work with, but Sir Anthony he is not. Bottom line — this leaves a huge void not only in the film but within the hearts of fans that cannot be filled.
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