“Hannibal Rising” (MGM)
Gaspard Ulliel is no Anthony Hopkins
In Hollywood if you have a hit movie then you keep milking the franchise for every ounce of money you can get from it. That certainly seems to be the case with the movies based on Thomas Harris’ novels about Hannibal Lector. “Silence of the Lambs” was an award winning film and since then there have been sequels, prequels and everything else you can think of about the man and his curious addictions. Now comes “Hannibal Rising” based on Thomas Harris’ recent novel of the same name.
The film starts with the Lector family fleeing the family home in Lithuania during World War II. They retreat to their countryside estate but soon the parents and staff are killed leaving only Hannibal and his young sister alive. A gang of scavengers come to the house and kill the sister and cannibalize her body. Hannibal (Gaspard Ulliel) somehow miraculously escapes.
Later he goes to France and seeks out his aunt, Lady Murasaki (Gong Li). She takes him into her home and educates him in the ways of the martial arts. From there Hannibal begins to exact his revenge for his sister’s death.
There is a French policeman named Popil (Dominic west) who is suspicious of Hannibal. He is the precursor to FBI Agent Clarise Starling, but West is no Jodie Foster and this inept detective is nowhere near as shrewd as Clarise proves to be.
The movie actually has a good look to it, and the music and the photography are first class. Ulliel is exotic and sinister in the role of Hannibal but he doesn’t seem to possess that innate evil that Hopkins brought to the screen. Plus the screenplay doesn’t set up the justification for his being the totally amoral person he later becomes. He is acting out of revenge in this story and not just because he is a depraved sadist.
The saving grace of the movie is Gong Li. She is such an expressive actress that she can make any role an important one and that is what she does here. She creates a full-bodied character who is the heart and soul of the film. Lady Murasaki’s relationship with Hannibal is a complex one but through Li’s talent it is an understandable one.
The movie is rated R for profanity and violence.
The movie is not quite as gory as you might expect given the situations that are shown. There is a lot of blood but the film has a strangely detached perspective and the murders do not become overly personal. Also the scenes of the brutalization of Hannibal’s sister are shown in glimpses and not total depiction.
Fans of the Thomas Harris book and fans of anything about Hannibal Lector will enjoy this film. But for those who are just looking for good entertainment, “Hannibal Rising” will prove to be only mediocre.
I scored “Hannibal Rising” a falling 5 out of 10.
