Hannibal (2001 DTS DVD Set)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: A-     Extras: B+     Film: A-

 

 

It is fair to say that the book, then the film of Hannibal will go down as among the most anticipated sequels ever.  The book was surprisingly raw, disturbing, wild, dark, and managed to offer more of the unexpected author Thomas Harris is so good at delivering.  It went in so many directions, that many wondered how this could be made into a feature film.

 

This time, there was no Orion Pictures, and then there would be no Jonathan Demme.  The biggest blow was, for reasons that made sense after reading the book, no Jodie Foster!  That was the most unthinkable problem of all.  Anthony Hopkins originally said he would not do the film without them, but in stepped Dino DeLaurentiis, the legendary producer who produced 1986’s Manhunter, the Michael Mann-helmed first feature film version of Red Dragon, the book the precedes The Silence of the Lambs.  He bought Hannibal’s feature film rights and went to work immediately on what he knew could work.

 

With Orion gone, M-G-M owned Silence of the Lambs and its rights, while Universal was involved with DeLaurentiis, so the parties joined forces.  To shape up a smart, strong screenplay, no less than David Mamet and Steven Zaillian were hired.  To pull it off, DeLaurentiis scored his biggest coup by hiring director Ridley Scott, coming off of shooting Gladiator.  The critical and commercial megahit had not been released yet, but Scott was about to get on a big roll again.  That left the role of Clarice Starling in the air, which would be taken up by Julianne Moore.

 

Moore was not as well known as she is now, though she was a familiar face that many recognized, yet could not name.  No one could replace Foster, so what happens in Hannibal is that a whole new world becomes constructed before our eyes.  Scott and the writer’s greatest achievement is in finding an elegant world in which this interpretation of the story takes place.  The books world was much colder and hopeless, to the point of a kind of fragmentation.  From there, a rich world of evil and beauty co-habitate.  Hopkins is in great form, with more tricks up his sleeve.  No longer confined to a dirty cell room and living the good life under the name Dr. Fell, he is in Italy.

 

When Starling makes headlines again in a sting operation gone badly wrong, Lecter becomes interested again, the object of his desire renewed.  While investigating what went wrong, Starling goes into shock upon receiving a letter from Lecter.  While she investigates this, she must tolerate the now sexually aggressive Paul Krendler (now played by Ray Liotta), and is oblivious to a plot by an enemy of Lecter to capture him in a worldwide manhunt.  This is funded and pursued by his former multi-Billionaire patient, Mason Verger (Gary Oldman, purposely uncredited in a freaky performance that rivals Hopkins’ work), a pedophile terrorist who had his face mutilated by Lecter.  Seems Lecter draws the line at children and decided to do something to him about it.

 

With all this freakshow going on, Starling no longer has Jack Crawford to turn to, so her status in the FBI is in jeopardy.  She wants to stay a committed, honorable agent, but Krendler is trying everything he can to destroy her career.  Her wants to sleep with her, but she knows its about power, and that he is an idiot.  Then things take a wacky turn for the worse!

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is remarkably good, though the color is not always as consistent as it ought to be, plus some unnecessary tampering with the image can be scene in some weird attempt to “sharpen” or “clarify” it at times that backfires.  Having seen this a few times in 35mm, and once in a High-Definition broadcast on a state-of-the-art HDTV, this DVD still holds its own, but is no match for those versions.  John Mathieson, B.S.C., shoots the film somewhere between Stanley Kubrick (The Shining and A Clockwork Orange in particular) and Pier Paolo Pasolini (explicitly Porcile, reviewed in Pasolini Set One elsewhere on this site), and the results are constantly impressive.

 

The 5.1 mixes offered are three Dolby Digital AC-3 versions in French, Spanish, and English, but the English DTS offers some of the best multi-channel sound ever issued on home video.  In an age of so many bad films that might have some impressive sound design, here we have a film that has sound equally as powerful and bold as the story it tries to tell.  The music by Hans Zimmer is up there with The Thin Red Line as his best work.  Dialogue is constantly clear and articulate.  This even held up in comparison to the misguided Red Dragon prequel a year later, with sound and sound design that was simply no match.  This is state-of-the-art.

 

The DVD has so many extras, that they issued a second disc.  Though 35 minutes of deleted scenes are featured, there is some key deletions missing that do occur in the book.  One is the reappearance of Diane Baker as Senator Martin, while the other involves director/character actor Spike Jonze as a weapons fan who meets Lecter unknowingly.  The results involving a bow and arrow are most disturbing.  That is the biggest flaw with the whole set.  An alternate ending with commentary option, Scott commentary on the whole film, storyboards with the multi-angel function still not used enough on DVD, several featurettes, stills, and teaser/trailer sections are the constantly interesting highlights offered.

 

I was surprised at so many people who did not get the film, or actually complained about its violence.  It is about an escaped serial killer, after all.  The reaction to Hannibal as opposed to Silence of the Lambs reminds me of the dumping on Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) only a few years after the director’s triumphant Goodfellas (1990).  Those films were about deadly gangsters, yet audiences expected them to do what?  Crack jokes?  Turn out to be really nice people who never hurt anybody?  The infantilism of adult filmgoers is very disturbing, the immaturity, and inability to grasp anything above a safe “mall movie” is certainly as chilling and disturbing as everything in these four films combined!

 

The fact of the matter is, Hannibal has a substantial story to tell, is made by some of the finest craftspeople working in film today, and is a work of art that will endure for decades to come.  It is one of the rare third chapters in all of cinema that is as impressive as its predecessors and shows that Ridley Scott remains one of the world’s best filmmakers when the materials are strong and interesting.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo