This movie had so many things wrong with I'm not sure where to begin. The biggest flaw in my mind is simply that Anthony Hopkins wasn't scary as Hannibal Lector in this one. In The Silence of the Lambs he was like a wickedly intelligent, caged animal who'd strike horribly if given any opportunity, not necessarily to escape prison, but just because he was a psychopath. In Hannibal, as a free man he spends almost all of the movie just being a normal person, attending shows, working, travelling, drinking his Espressos, etc, and there's just nothing intense or creepy about any of it. Given the fact that Anthony Hopkins is also visibly a decade older and a good bit heavier than he was in the original, he seems rather harmless, just like any guy you'd pass on the street.
Another somewhat major problem with Hannibal is that the plot was really lacking. It seemed as though the events of the movie were just an excuse to reunite us with the two characters. You do have to appreciate the lengths with which the film=makers went to, to make sure that every person killed in the movie was done so in some uniquely, and often outrageously gruesome way. But what left me the most disappointed however, was the fact that director decided to scrap the book's somewhat cool, albeit far-out ending in favor of... basically no ending at all. What they gave us here as far as I can tell, didn't answer anything, didn't resolve anything, didn't sum anything up. The movie just kind of stopped going after two hours and they rolled the credits.
Hannibal the movie was totally style over substance, almost a complete reversal from The Silence of the Lambs. Here again, we have a highly anticipated sequel that costs about 8 times as much, but totally doesn't live up to the original in terms of the finer points, like possessing a little meaning, depth, or intensity.
Another somewhat major problem with Hannibal is that the plot was really lacking. It seemed as though the events of the movie were just an excuse to reunite us with the two characters. You do have to appreciate the lengths with which the film=makers went to, to make sure that every person killed in the movie was done so in some uniquely, and often outrageously gruesome way. But what left me the most disappointed however, was the fact that director decided to scrap the book's somewhat cool, albeit far-out ending in favor of... basically no ending at all. What they gave us here as far as I can tell, didn't answer anything, didn't resolve anything, didn't sum anything up. The movie just kind of stopped going after two hours and they rolled the credits.
Hannibal the movie was totally style over substance, almost a complete reversal from The Silence of the Lambs. Here again, we have a highly anticipated sequel that costs about 8 times as much, but totally doesn't live up to the original in terms of the finer points, like possessing a little meaning, depth, or intensity.