I have now seen the first season and two episodes of the second season, and I'm impressed with this show. Making a TV-series based on Hannibal Lecter feels like a challenge. The character is so closely associated with Anthony Hopkins, and in my opinions, the quality of the franchise has suffered since Silence of the Lambs (in my opinion). I have read a few of the books and I was generally unimpressed. This show on the other hand manages to make something more out of it.
What I like most about this show is how the story progresses with each episode, many times I feel that TV-series are afraid to go places. They tend to stagnate for a few episodes and not really move the general plot forward. In Hannibal there is a distinct wish to develop the characters and the story in each episode, and I'm still interested to see where it takes us.
What I feel less ecstatic about is the level of gore in the show. I don't feel that you would really need this amount of blood and grimy killings, it doesn't add very much to the show and if you are averse to that sort of thing I imagine it could put you off. Also, there is a very dense amount of killing, many episodes feature a large amount of victims. This doesn't feel entirely credible, I don't have the statistics to know the number of serial killers in the US in the last decade. But here they seem to grow on trees.
In general the actors do a fine job. Mikkelsen is a good Lecter, although I wish that he had worked some more on getting rid of his Danish accent. Maybe I'm more bothered by it than most (being from Sweden), but it doesn't entirely fit the character. Otherwise, no complaints.
I would recommend this show to anyone wanting an interesting viewing experience, who is not really looking for casual watching, and who doesn't mind the level of gore or darkness that this show provides. It can be bothersome to watch at times, both visually and psychologically. But then again, that's sort of the point.
7/10.
What I like most about this show is how the story progresses with each episode, many times I feel that TV-series are afraid to go places. They tend to stagnate for a few episodes and not really move the general plot forward. In Hannibal there is a distinct wish to develop the characters and the story in each episode, and I'm still interested to see where it takes us.
What I feel less ecstatic about is the level of gore in the show. I don't feel that you would really need this amount of blood and grimy killings, it doesn't add very much to the show and if you are averse to that sort of thing I imagine it could put you off. Also, there is a very dense amount of killing, many episodes feature a large amount of victims. This doesn't feel entirely credible, I don't have the statistics to know the number of serial killers in the US in the last decade. But here they seem to grow on trees.
In general the actors do a fine job. Mikkelsen is a good Lecter, although I wish that he had worked some more on getting rid of his Danish accent. Maybe I'm more bothered by it than most (being from Sweden), but it doesn't entirely fit the character. Otherwise, no complaints.
I would recommend this show to anyone wanting an interesting viewing experience, who is not really looking for casual watching, and who doesn't mind the level of gore or darkness that this show provides. It can be bothersome to watch at times, both visually and psychologically. But then again, that's sort of the point.
7/10.