This movie is beautifully shot, incredibly acted, superbly scored and at times gut-wrenchingly gruesome. However, the script is variable, some very unfunny jokes tossed in, and the story, which I won't go into detail with exactly how and why, seems a bit weak.
The premise is simple. Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) is the top female FBI agent. An attempted drug arrest goes wrong, and Starling is left with egg on her face. She is put back onto the case of Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to give her an opportunity to, ahem, get her teeth into something. Lecter has been whereabouts unknown for 10 years. An Italian detective named Pazzi (Giancarlo Gianni) stumbles across Lecter unknowingly during another case and via checking the FBI most wanted website suddenly realises that he has a huge reward possibly staring him in the face. Clarice contacts Pazzi with regard to a security tape which confirms Lecter's presence in Florence, but Pazzi wants the 3 million dollar reward on offer from the gruesomely disfigured Mason Verger (Gary Oldman) who suffered at Hannibal's hands some years before and is out for revenge. That's the bare bones of the story in the first half and the film starts brightly, at a good pace and creating a great atmosphere.
The pace drops in the middle and certain questions you can't help but ask. How does Hannibal, one of the FBI's 10 most wanted, fly on a public jumbo jet from Florence to the US with consumate ease? OK, the guy is a master criminal but y'know? Anyway the action moves to the US and Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta - hey long time no see!) ;who has some sort of no-brain macho mindset and is trying to stymie Starling's faltering career; comes more into the story a bit more.
My main problem with this film was it's ending. Not to give anything away, but I was really getting into the film and it just sort of finished. I was entertained but felt a little short changed by the suddenness of it, and was genuinely surprised and disappointed when the credits rolled. This may be, I admit, because the story didn't develop how I'd expected it to, and hey, that's my fault I suppose. But the movie had promised a little more in it's starter and main course to leave me with a rather annoying lack of pudding(not that I was really hungry after the end, you understand).
But still, well worth watching and one that you think about after you've seen it.. 8/10.
The premise is simple. Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) is the top female FBI agent. An attempted drug arrest goes wrong, and Starling is left with egg on her face. She is put back onto the case of Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to give her an opportunity to, ahem, get her teeth into something. Lecter has been whereabouts unknown for 10 years. An Italian detective named Pazzi (Giancarlo Gianni) stumbles across Lecter unknowingly during another case and via checking the FBI most wanted website suddenly realises that he has a huge reward possibly staring him in the face. Clarice contacts Pazzi with regard to a security tape which confirms Lecter's presence in Florence, but Pazzi wants the 3 million dollar reward on offer from the gruesomely disfigured Mason Verger (Gary Oldman) who suffered at Hannibal's hands some years before and is out for revenge. That's the bare bones of the story in the first half and the film starts brightly, at a good pace and creating a great atmosphere.
The pace drops in the middle and certain questions you can't help but ask. How does Hannibal, one of the FBI's 10 most wanted, fly on a public jumbo jet from Florence to the US with consumate ease? OK, the guy is a master criminal but y'know? Anyway the action moves to the US and Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta - hey long time no see!) ;who has some sort of no-brain macho mindset and is trying to stymie Starling's faltering career; comes more into the story a bit more.
My main problem with this film was it's ending. Not to give anything away, but I was really getting into the film and it just sort of finished. I was entertained but felt a little short changed by the suddenness of it, and was genuinely surprised and disappointed when the credits rolled. This may be, I admit, because the story didn't develop how I'd expected it to, and hey, that's my fault I suppose. But the movie had promised a little more in it's starter and main course to leave me with a rather annoying lack of pudding(not that I was really hungry after the end, you understand).
But still, well worth watching and one that you think about after you've seen it.. 8/10.