Month: May 2013

Michael Mann’s take on Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon, Manhunter. Forgotten and replaced by a much cornier take that places more of a role on Hannibal Lector. I will argue that Brian Cox plays a more interesting ‘Hannibal’ in his few minutes on screen in Manhunter than Anthony Hopkins ever did, but there is no question that Tom Noonan plays are far better ‘Francis Dolarhyde‘ than Ralph Fiennes, William Petersen (also in the William Friedkin’s amazing To Live and Die in L.A., another forgotten gem) plays a much more interesting and tormented ‘Willam Graham‘.
Visually far more interesting than the later remake, aside from some oddball ’80s rock songs (which are more than made up for in some great haunting soundscapes) and a plot that either assumes or doesn’t care if  you know William Graham’s back story, which makes it less heavy handed than any of the other movies based on The Harris ‘Lector’ series. I should also mention NBC’s series ‘Hannibal’ as the inspiration in watching this, if you haven’t seen that it is worth checking out.