To no surprise the prequel to one of the most infamous serial killers in cinematic and literary history is a bust. Hannibal Rising does exactly what you would expect it to do, it makes an attempt to give moviegoers the reason behind Hannibal Lecter’s madness by killing the mystery behind the man with gory shots of murder and uninspired revenge.
In Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal we witnessed his freakish nature as Anthony Hopkins played him almost better than the page presented, but we all know killers are scarier when we are never sure what motivates them. To his credit, I have read Thomas Harris’ novel, which Harris also adapted into the screenplay for this picture, and the story actually works despite a lackluster ending. However, what works on paper and in my imagination, does not translate well to the screen at all.
The film begins with Hannibal’s early years in Lithuania, at the tail end of World War II, and Lecter’s nightmarish childhood is brought to our attention. Hannibal loses his parents, his sister and his home, Lecter Manor, which is turned into a boarding home for lost children of the war. From there he ultimately finds himself in France, in the home of his uncle’s widow, Lady Murasaki played by Gong Li. Once settled and attending medical school Lecter can’t seem to forget his past and his lust for revenge comes to the surface.
This is where I am supposed to say the book is better, and it is, however this film has several things working against it. First off trying to get into the mind of a killer takes some time, but the two hour running time on Hannibal Rising seems to take forever. Next, there are things that can be written on the page that just don’t sound as good on screen, especially in the hands of the incapable Gaspard Ulliel who offers nothing to the role. The French actor has really done nothing of major world acclaim before now and I don’t see him gaining much ground after this performance. If you want to try and convince me this guy grows up to be the Lecter Hopkins gave us you can try, but I am not going to fall for it.
Lecter’s mystique was in the way he charmed people and still had this monstrous yearning in his belly. With Hannibal Rising, while his lust for revenge can be understood the cannibalism cannot, and the way it is presented seems so overblown. Needless shots of gore and even a scene where gutted fish innards are tossed into a lake are so unnecessary and laughable. Even the classic scene from Hannibal in which Hopkins feeds Liotta his own brain is about so much more than the gore, as shocking as it is.
Early on you hope director Peter Webber may forgo trying to gross audiences out and focus more on the cerebral aspects of the film, but his desire to paint Hannibal as a run-of-the-mill killer is never scary and the flat and predictable dialogue is no better.
My only recommendation is to pick up the book and avoid the film, especially if, like me, you are a big fan of the previous Lecter films, primarily Lambs and Hannibal. Even though it is easier to just watch the movie and get the gist of it, at least in the book you can carry on the story of Lecter with a much more believable lead than Ulliel as your imagination will guide the way. I certainly hope this is the last time we get a Lecter film, but I wouldn’t mind if Harris continued with the novels.
