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PRODUCER: |
Tarak Ben Ammar (Femme Fatale), Dino De Laurentiis (Red Dragon, Hannibal), Martha Schumacher (Red Dragon, Hannibal) |
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Hannibal Rising – movie standards, falling.
After Hannibal Lecter's insane life had been depicted in just about every way possible in movies such as Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Red Dragon, it's hard to believe they could tell one more story about him. But they did and this time it's a prequel. It shows us how Hannibal Lecter came to be so evil. It starts during WWII when young Hannibal's parents are killed and he's left to take care of his little sister. Without saying what exactly happened to turn him evil (because what happened is too heinous to even put into words) it's what solders did to his sister that changed him. From that second he vowed to spend his life getting revenge. And revenge is what he gets in great gruesome detail, over and over and over and over again in this movie.
Generally speaking, most people tend to find serial killers more disgusting than fascinating. This alone probably limits the appeal of Hannibal Rising. That aside, though, the movie does offer some pretty incredible cinematography. The WWII scenes are amazing. And, while the movie is a gruesome depiction of a gruesome story, the most disturbing aspects of the story are ingeniously alluded to instead of shown. But, the movie’s too long, it moves too slow, and even though the revenge scenes are graphic, they’re not particularly creative. Plus, Hannibal Lecter is actually the movie’s hero, given that he’s torturing to death very bad men. That might work were it not for the other movies that show us how evil he eventually becomes. So, regardless of how you feel about serial killers, Hannibal Rising probably won’t get you. |
