hannibal vs red dragon

Whereas Hannibal Rising was the obvious pick for bottom of the Hannibal movie barrel, 1991's The Silence of the Lambs… He's eating them: NBC Hannibal vs. Red Dragon the movie. And, this is an interesting case of when sometimes playing a character closer to the book isn’t always the best bet. New LitReactor Shirts & Stickers Now Available! He goes home to Florida and assures Molly that he's okay, really and truly okay. Movie Reviews Manhunter keeps Dolarhyde out of the film until about the halfway point. Agree with most of it, too. He first kills the Jacobi family in Birmingham, Alabama, then the Leeds family in Atlanta, Georgia. FictionIsntReal makes some good points. Mark: Yeah, the way I look at Manhunter and Red Dragon is that Manhunter is Will Graham’s movie and Red Dragon is Dolarhyde’s movie. He begins to work out and has custom made jagged-denture… It’s sort of like, yeah, some days I feel like watching The Godfather, but most days I just want to throw in Predator and chill out. And as well he should, because again, this film was made to work as the first part of a trilogy (let’s just do what the rest of the world has done and pretend Hannibal Rising never happened). The actors were all stellar in their roles. Remember, this family was Will's means of escape from the dark world, the polar opposite of his life with the FBI (or, as far away from himself as he could get)—fixing boat motors and being a husband and a father, versus living alone and becoming psychologically intimate with psychos. But it is interesting how many scenes between the two movies are near word-for-word identical (probably because they were taken straight from the source). When the epiphany takes place, Norton’s is more “Ooh, I got it!” while Peterson’s is more “I was there! Then by all means.” I don’t want to sell Joan Allen too short, but Reba had a severely diminished role in Manhunter as compared to Red Dragon. I saw it!” Likewise, when Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina in Manhunter, Harvey Keitel in Red Dragon) comes to Will’s house at the beginning to drag him into the Tooth Fairy case, you get the feeling that Norton is over his mania while Peterson is still trying to recover from it. We all know what this is: a typical Hollywood happy ending. Didn't you feel so bad because killing him felt so good? Like what we do here at AIPT? Consider this: And this (which plays over the end credits): These moments of cringe aside, Mann handles the primary conflict quite well (though his poor handling of Dolarhyde's character arc is another topic of discussion we don't have time for here). And yet, the couple hold out hope that everything will be fine once Will is finished with the Dolarhyde case. Never mind the fact it doesn't make any sense: how, exactly, does killing Dolarhyde equate to Will's salvation? Brace yourselves. Face-Off: The Silence of the Lambs vs. Hannibal vs. Red Dragon a list of 3 titles See all lists by Alexander_333 » It would have been better if he'd merely pushed Hannibal off the cliffside. Movies In a way, then, Harris lets us know that, at least to the knowledge of the FBI, Will isn't out there slaughtering people; nor is he dead, but, sadly, he may as well be. After learning that Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper, he attempts to kill his friend on numerous occasions (failing either because Hannibal is always one step ahead of him, or because he can't actually bring himself to do it). Next up—Book Vs. Film: The Silence Of The Lambs. It was directed by Brett Ratner and written by Ted Tally. Manhunter was released in 1986, and, funny enough, it was directed by Michael Mann, executive producer of Miami Vice (getting off to a great start!). Despite some good performances in Red Dragon (other than Norton’s), Manhunter is the more rewatchable of the two films. Christopher lives in Oklahoma City with his fiancée Lauren and their two mostly well-behaved cats. She does so, in a brutal display of force that echoes Will's sense of an "irrevocable loss": She forgot the stance and she forgot the front sight but she got a good two-handed grip on the pistol and as the door exploded inward she blew a rat hole through his thigh...and she shot him in the face as he slid down the door facing and she shot him in the face as he sat on the floor and she ran to him and shot him twice in the face as he sprawled against the wall, scalp down to his chin and his hair on fire. ", a question we at first believe is an earnest one on Hannibal's part—he genuinely can't figure out how Will did it. They are very different films. It is worth watching Cox to see a slightly different translation of the character, though. We certainly feel the danger in Will reentering this world of violence and rage, especially when Graham displays bursts of anger himself, toward the skeezy Tattler reporter Freddy Lounds (Stephen Lang) and toward Dolarhyde (Tom Noonan), culminating in this rather unsettling dialogue exchange with Crawford (Dennis Farina) toward the end of the film, when Will begins to speculate about the Dragon's abusive upbringing: WILL: This started from an abused kid, a battered infant...There's something terrible about... CRAWFORD: What, are you sympathizing with this guy? Consider supporting us and independent comics journalism by becoming a patron today! This was the part where he finally “snapped” and just went bonkers. At the beginning of this episode, three years have passed since Hannibal turned himself in to Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) so that Graham would know exactly where he is, so that he can always find him; or, in other words, a means of rejecting Will's rejection of a life on the lam with Hannibal. A side-by-side, shot-for-shot comparison between Manhunter (1986), Red Dragon (2002), and Hannibal (2013-15). On January 13, 2015, Richard Armitage was cast as Dolarhyde and appeared in season 3 of the television series Hannibal, beginning in episode 8, "The Great Red Dragon". Or does Hannibal see it coming, and he just doesn't care, because Will has finally given him the only thing he ever wanted? Hoffman’s portrayal in that scene seemed more pathetic, though. Ratner's Red Dragon comes in last because it doesn't seem to grasp Harris's intent at all, and plays exactly like you'd expect a fan-servicing film featuring an actor reprising his most recognizable role to play out. But on topic, Hopkins brings more to his performance in all the ways you described and more, but probably because he’d had two films to practice and was sort of just slipping back into a familiar suit. Harris addresses this via a conversation between Crawford and Dr. Alan Bloom, another adept profiler and professor at Quantico, the FBI training academy, in which the latter sheds light on Graham's abilities: [Dr. Bloom]: '...He's an eideteker—he has a remarkable visual memory—but I don't think he's psychic... 'Will wants to think of this as purely an intellectual exercise, and in the narrow definition of forensics, that's what it is. More than this, it strips him of his pure empathy, his ability to situate himself so closely to killers on a psychological level that he figures out their motives. Weeks go by, but it is clear that everything is not fine. It gave him immense pleasure, taking down this man, this monster, an essential truth he recognizes on a subconscious level, an essential truth that terrifies him. I can’t imagine anyone other than Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones with regard to future movies, and I used to feel that way about Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Lecter, but not anymore—not at all. Why fight it...? In a perfect world we could take both flicks, throw them into a Telepod and amalgamate them into the ideal adaptation, but we live in a sucky universe. Oddly enough, all three adaptations have merit, and none of them stick out as the clear weak link. With Hannibal, the TV series based not just on Red Dragon but the Harris novels Hannibal and Hannibal Rising (they never got the rights to The Silence of the Lambs), the primary conflict (Will versus his dark side) is explored in full over three seasons, with the titular character acting variously as a therapist, a confidant, a close friend, an intimate, a tormentor, an adversary, and a psychopathic Yoda. Sure, it cuts out the fake out death of Dolarhyde, but ending with Graham catching his man, and not being too late is a little more satisfying than ending your movie with a fake out death of your villain (done way too much in films anyway). Of course, he doesn't actually hope Graham will turn Crawford away—in fact, he knows he will help, for one because Will is a good person at his core, but moreover because Hannibal knows he can't resist "that old scent." In Ratner's Red Dragon, he really isn't much more than an investigator, and one really wonders what the hell he's doing in this movie anyway? Hopkins is a bit scenery hungry and too noticeably old to be playing Hannibal at this point in the timeline, but he doesn't do anything too egregious (nor anything of particular note, either; he's just kinda there). I'd even argue at this point that Mickkelson was the more accurate portrayer of Lecter as he is in the books. Aiding him is imprisoned forensic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. Mark: Very true. He provides Will Graham a version of Hannibal that he may be able to save, and provides Hannibal a version of Will Graham that he may be able to corrupt. It is clear Graham hopes to be the guy that "blows the sick fuck out of his socks," a truth echoed by Lecter in dialogue taken directly from the book: HANNIBAL: I want to help you, Will. Languishing in his hospital with his pain, as Lecter put it, with little else to do but think (Molly and Willy don't come to visit very much), Will begins to acknowledge this darkness: In the Green Machine [nature] there is no mercy; we make mercy, manufacture it in the parts that have overgrown our basic reptile brain. Mark: Red Dragon is the more cerebral of the two films, I’ll give it that. A prequel to The Silence of the Lambs (1991), it sees FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) enlisting the help of serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to catch another killer, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes). Will says to Molly (Nina Arianda). Peterson is unkempt and gross and volatile and seems to always be on the cusp of sanity. Our primary narrative arc of concern is episode 8 of season 3, titled "The Great Red Dragon," written by Fuller, Nick Antosca and Steve Lightfoot, and directed by Neil Marshall (director of The Descent). I would encourage you, as a friend, not to step back through the door he holds open. There's no escape from Dolarhyde, who basically succeeded in destroying Will's family. And it would have worked, had he not allowed his empathy to resurface, which subsequently allowed Dolarhyde (or, the Dragon) into his headspace. I don’t even know if I can pick which film I prefer right now, you go, maybe I can decide in a bit. Red Dragon’s Dolarhyde, his attraction to her is genuinely a romantic and personal one. A ready-made wife and child to serve your needs. The changes made so far effectively remove Graham's direct involvement with the narrative, making him a passive protagonist. "Hannibal" showrunner Bryan Fuller discusses season 3, Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter's relationship and bringing Red Dragon to the show. Red Dragon will be "way closer to the book than Manhunter. Mark: This was the aspect of the two versions I was most on the fence about. I don’t think you were supposed to *like* Graham, and even when Norton’s throwing a fit and clobbering Lounds, he doesn’t come off as scary or on the brink. Today we know all too well how dangerous an idea that is, because Hannibal Lecter has joined the rogues' gallery of cinematic baddies that also includes the likes of Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Meyers and Leatherface (which is problematic, of course: I love all those characters, but I'm not sure Lecter belongs among them—he's far too psychologically complex). ...the arc in the Red Dragon chapter of the season is very much a trouble between Hannibal and Will and Francis Dolarhyde, because Dolarhyde represents something unique in the triangulation of Hannibal and Will. Nefarious, morally dubious, sure, but he is not killing indiscriminately, nor for sport or pleasure. And yet, this isn't the last time we hear from Will in Harris's universe: he's mentioned briefly in The Silence of the Lambs by Clarice Starling, who indicates he's become an alcoholic living alone somewhere in the Florida Keys. The 3 seasons tell a complete story, as pointed out, and I enjoyed the conclusion very much. See? For lack of a better term, Will could stoop to Hannibal's level, but only if killing would prevent more killing or serve a sense of justice. Mark: There isn’t too much to say on this front, though it is odd how both films have almost identical runtimes (2 hours) and yet Red Dragon seemed to pack in so much more material for the characters than Manhunter did. While Noonan came off like a scary monster, Fiennes is more akin to Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs (though I do think Bill balanced sympathetic and f-----g horrifying a bit better). PelleCreepy, Movie Reviews How Do We Go On Writing Our Little Fictions When Outside The World Is On Fire? The show itself and Bryan Fuller did wild things with the structure that I thought worked really well. Manhunter’s a better film to chill out to. We don't invent our natures, they're issued to us with our lungs and pancreas and everything else. It is Crawford's idea for Graham to interview Lecter and get his opinion, which completely undermines Hannibal's astute observation that Will only wanted to see him again and get "that old scent" back. Hannibal (2001) dir. Liked how Season 1 started out disguised as an average/formulaic TV show or more luring and more of  a procedural using Will as a profiler—the guy who can think like the killers to catch them or get closer to them on a weekly basis—but you nailed it on the internal struggle and yeah it was great how Hannibal was right in the mix assisting with cases, not just interacting with Will but Dr. Bloom—all of them—allowing the bonds and friendships to develop deeply and that made the impact and stakes far more weighty and exciting for me. Mann excises most of Harris's third act, removing especially Dolarhyde's faked suicide—he dies for real in his own home, at the hands of Will. It is especially absurd for Crawford to recruit him back, as Will stated that he attempted to help a serial killer escape capture (which should be sufficient for him to never be allowed near a criminal investigation again). Despite some good performances in Red Dragon (other than Norton’s), Manhunter is the more rewatchable of the two films. But on the other hand, I really enjoyed seeing how he was captured by Graham; the prologue to Red Dragon was a pretty great sequence that appeased audience’s appetites for Hannibal while also organically introducing us to Will and his backstory. Stands to reason, as you can be inside Graham’s head in the book, whereas you have to start primarily external in a film adaptation. Sean: Yeah, I guess ultimately, despite the fact I love Red Dragon’s score, there is nothing inherently unique about it other than Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of Dolarhyde. Lecter knows the answer to his query, and he finally vocalizes it toward the end of their interview: [Hannibal]: 'You just came here to look at me. Set up as a kind of alternate universe prequel to Harris's first Lecter novel, we see in detail Will's episode of depression following his killing of Garret Jacob Hobbs and his subsequent hunt for the Chesapeake Ripper (Hannibal). I did like the direction and outcome of the first half overall, and how it connected to the second half/RD; it just didn’t move in the beginning and I felt too often I was watching something abstract and trying to be arty vs. getting to it, but the season definitely turned around and I liked the Red Dragon end of it. Why don't you just smell yourself? The Hannibal Lecter franchise is an American media franchise based around the titular character, Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant, cannibalistic serial killer whose assistance is routinely sought out by law enforcement personnel to aid in the capture of other criminals. 'S psychological stability, given his history and motivations are fleshed out, and Seymour. 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