Hannibal (2001)

Living in exile, Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins) tries to reconnect with now disgraced F.B.I. Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore), and finds himself a target for revenge from a powerful victim (Gary Oldman).

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Thomas Harris (novel), David Mamet (screenplay)

Stars:

Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman

8 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Hopkins	...	Hannibal Lecter
Julianne Moore	...	Clarice Starling
Gary Oldman	...	Mason Verger
Ray Liotta	...	Paul Krendler
Frankie Faison	...	Nurse Barney (as Frankie R. Faison)
Giancarlo Giannini	...	Insp. Rinaldo Pazzi
Francesca Neri	...	Allegra Pazzi
Zeljko Ivanek	...	Dr. Cordell Doemling
Hazelle Goodman	...	Evelda Drumgo
David Andrews	...	FBI Agent Pearsall
Francis Guinan	...	FBI Asst. Director Noonan
James Opher	...	DEA Agent John Eldridge
Enrico Lo Verso	...	Gnocco
Ivano Marescotti	...	Carlo
Fabrizio Gifuni	...	Matteo

Storyline

The final chapter of the Dr. Hannibal Lecter quadrilogy, the murdering cannibal. He is presently in Italy, and works as a curator at a museum. Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore), the F.B.I. Agent who he aided to apprehend a serial killer, was placed in charge of an operation, but when one of her men botches it, she's called to the mat by the Bureau. One high ranking official, Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) has it in for her. But she gets a reprieve because Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), one of Lecter's victims who is looking to get back at Lecter for what Lecter did to him, wants to use Starling to lure him out. When Lecter sends her a note, she learns that he's in Italy, so she asks the Police to keep an eye out for him. But a corrupt Policeman, who wants to get the reward that Verger placed on him, tells Verger where he is, but they fail to get him. Later, Verger decides to frame Starling, which makes Lecter return to the U.S., and the race to get Lecter begins.

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Plot Keywords:

italy | fbi | hannibal lecter | revenge | florence italy | 

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Taglines:

How long can a man stay silent before he returns to the thing he does best?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong gruesome violence, some nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

MGM Studios [United States] MGMawards.com reviews [United States]

Country:

USA UK Italy

Language:

English Italian Japanese

Release Date:

9 February 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Silence of the Lambs 2

Filming Locations:

Virginia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$87,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$58,003,121, 11 February 2001, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$165,092,268

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$351,692,268, 30 June 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Universal Pictures, Dino De Laurentiis Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Florence, Italy, where part of this movie was filmed, it is possible to buy a sort of tourist guide called: "Hannibal Lecter. Visit the places of the city where he was."

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Goofs

As units pull into the Fish Market at about 00:07:05, an obvious and poorly done CGI reflection has been added to the driver side front quarter panel. This was likely done to mask a real reflection of visible crew or equipment. In fact, when the vehicle rocks from being placed in PARK, the effect does not match the car's movements.

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Quotes

Mason Verger: Isn't it funny?
Clarice Starling: What's that?
Mason Verger: You can look at my face, but you shied when I said the name of God.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits, we hear Lecter say "Ta ta, H.", the closing line of the post-script in his letter to Clarice.

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Alternate Versions

German video distributor BMG Video released two seperate DVD-editions of the film: one is the uncut FSK18 version in a double DVD set with massive extras, the other edition is a single DVD and includes only the film in a shortened (ca. 1,5 min.) FSK16 version. This edition carries the note "Cut version".

• In the DVD Behind The Scenes featurette we see Hannibal actually cutting into Krendler's brain during the climactic scene, whereas in the released version only Clarice's reaction is shown.

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Connections

References Don't Look Now (1973)

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Soundtracks

Vide Cor Meum
Music by Patrick Cassidy
Performed by Danielle de Niese and Bruno Lazzaretti

User Reviews

Good, but not great

Anthony Hopkins gave an impeccable performance. However, the material he was given to work with was not as good as Silence of the Lambs. In fairness, perhaps there was no way it could be. In SOTL, he was somehow more foreboding, more of a sort of superhuman monster; in Hannibal, he's more accessible, a guy you meet on the street. Maybe it was impossible to maintain the mystery of Lecter that we saw in SOTL because of the risk of doing a rehash. I'd give the overall Dr Lecter character a 9 of 10 in this film, vs. a 10 of 10 in the last one. Not quite as good, but still very good.

Starling's character, on the other hand, fell flat in this film. In SOTL, Foster perfectly portrayed Starling's flat surface with a turbulent depth; in Hannibal, there was nothing under her surface. Foster's Clarice evoked feelings of sympathetic grief, Moore's Clarice evoked nothing. I do not necessarily blame Moore, this could be due to writing and/or directing. Obviously, though SOTL focused mainly on Starling's character, Hannibal focuses on, well, Hannibal. Still, that's no excuse for what was done to Starling. Her character gets a 3 of 10.

The story was much weaker in Hannibal than in SOTL. It almost seemed like an excuse to present us with the characters, rather than a story in and of itself. Still, it had no other major flaws, so it gets a 6 of 10.

Now, there's another category I'll call the shock factor. It's different than ordinary gore, it's... creative gore. The sick, disgusting depravity we expect to see and like to see in this type of film. I can't go into detail without spoiling it, but I'll have to say it goes even beyond what I expected. Do not watch this film if you are squeamish or dislike gore. There isn't a lot of gore in the film, but what there was, was... concentrated. Shock Factor, 10 of 10.

Overall I give the film an 8 of 10. Very well done with a few weaknesses, well worth watching.