HANNIBAL

Dr. Hannibal Lecter, where are you? In his time away from the screen, our favourite dinner companion and raconteur Dr Hannibal Lecter has become no less than one of the curators of the Palazzo Vecchio. However, nothing attracts attention like the smell of a killer sum of money, and Lecter falls into a trap involving an old patient and victim, Mason Verger, his desire to avenge the suffering Lecter visited upon him in the past, and the twisted machinations of Paul Krendler, Starlings own nemesis within the Government (the man is utterly insufferable, and gets his just reward at the end of the movie).

The prospect of a small fortune being put up as a reward for information leading to Lecter's capture tempts local cop Rinaldo Pazzi to take a closer look at the mysterious Dr Fell, and to ponder on the curious circumstances behind the previous Curator's sudden departure. But FBI agent Clarice Starling, again on the case to find Lecter, finds out about Mason's plot to feed Dr. Lecter to a bunch of man-eating hogs and, in a unique twist, will do anything to make sure that Mason doesn't succeed with this plan.

Ridley Scott's take on Lecter, in my opinon, does not do any justice at all to the source material, as there is a considerable amount of background detail omitted in favour of dramatising scenes I think are way less crucial. This is a big, big let down simply because that kind of information helps clear up some reasons behind Lecter's personality, and most importantly of all, the book fleshed out his unique relationship to Starling. Lecter's general demeanour is (dare I say it) a tad too playful in this movie, compared to his overall style in the book, with the book retaining the mysteriousness of Lecter much better. Of the four, this is probably the one that gets the "typical Hollywood movie" award. Julianne Moore doesn't really hold up against Foster, but still does an admirable job nonetheless. The last scene of the movie however was handled absolutely diabolically. It should have been unnerving, but in my opinion ended as a bit of a farce compared to the book, not because it wasn't gross enough, but there was a lot to the last part of the book than just the scene of Lecter and Starling sharing Krendler's brains - which is what the movie ending happened to dwell on. Definitely in the rent-this-movie-don't-buy-a-personal-copy class. I must say at this stage I haven't seen the DVD Edition, maybe that will restore my faith? Who knows ...