Hannibal Rising – Unrated (Widescreen DVD-Video)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: C-
I thought
the second film of Red Dragon (see
my HD-DVD review here on the site) was one Hannibal Lecter film too many. Though Peter Webber’s film of Thomas Harris’
book Hannibal Rising (2007) is not a
remake of previous material filmed better, it is just as disappointing, though
he is obviously a better director than Brett Ratner.
Unfortunately,
the material is more distant and inconsistent with the classic books and films
than even Ratner’s disaster. We
previously covered the film as a theatrical release, which you can read about
as follows:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4992/Hannibal+Rising+(Theatrical+Film
Gaspard
Ulliel is the young Hannibal Lecter, accompanied with flashbacks of when he was
really young. He is a good actor and can
play evil, but he never reminds us of the menace or cleverness represented by
Brian Cox and Anthony Hopkins in their work.
Besides when it becomes silly, he becomes more like Batman or Dracula
than Lecter and that is when the film goes very, very wrong.
The real
tragedy is that there is a story to be told here, one that was forming in the
best Harris books involving Lecter, but Harris seems to have lost track of
them. The result is the biggest letdown
since the conspiracy on The X-Files
suddenly faded away before even being addressed.
Gong Li
and Rhys Ifans cannot help either and though some money was spent on this, it
is just a forgettable dud. Three films (Manhunter, The Silence Of The Lambs, Hannibal,
all reviewed elsewhere on this site) are enough.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 is surprisingly poor with detail issues, some
edge enhancement and Video Black/shadow detail issues that flatten the work and
limit the colors. Director of
Photography Ben Davis’ cinematography is actually very nice in 35mm, but you
would never know how much from this disc.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is the highlight of the disc by default,
though it is not great and the music is not too memorable.
Extras
include the original teaser & trailer, deleted scenes that make no
difference with optional commentary, making of featurette, production design
featurette and feature length audio commentary by Webber and co-producer Martha
De Laurentiis are mixed at best. Skip
it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
