I have always been a big fan of the Hannibal Lector series, and while most people prefer Silence of the Lambs and say it’s the only film worth a dam in the whole series, I’m one of the very few who enjoyed all the films. (And yes I liked Hannibal). Hannibal Rising brings us back to the roots of Lector and where it all began.
Hannibal Rising is about a young Hannibal Lector living in Lithuania during World War II, He witnesses his mother and father killed by the Nazis and is forced along with his young sister to survive on their own in a family cottage in the middle of no where. However a group of Nazi looters come along and take him and his young sister hostage. With no food around, the Nazis think of alternative ways to eat. I won’t give the beginning of the plot away, but lets just say it’s where the monster of Hannibal was created. With this, the movie moves eight years into time. Hannibal is living in his old home, however it is now an orphanage. Knowing where his mother has hid certain documents, Hannibal find them and flees the orphanage and heads to France where he finds his uncles wife, know as Lady M. Lady M is a rich women and she educates Hannibal in her Asian culture, she also teaches him Kendo and sends him to the best schools. Hannibal spends most of his nights at the University Medical Center preparing and studying dead bodies. But his mind has always been focused on the Nazis whom turned him into the monster he is. He then goes on the hunt to find these men and kill them off one by one.
The script for Hannibal Rising was written by his creator Tomas Harris; and this is where I think a lot of people had issues with this film. The script is character driven and not plot driven. And I believe that this is where most critics had their beef with the film. It’s true that the script does bounce all over the place, however the focus is always on Hannibal. After all this film is about him and how he became the worlds most notorious killer. I personally like character driven scripts such as this one more so than a plot driven script. I’ve always liked Hannibal Lector as a character, so the fact that the plot was second to the character development didn’t concern me one bit. I like how Harris was able to truly make the young Hannibal just as classy, yet crazy as the old one. As we all know Hannibal never kills good people, just bad ones or ones that get in the way and make the wrong decisions. This is true with the way he is in this film as well, and there is a sympathetic side to the character.
The acting in the film is very good, Gaspard Ulliel who plays the young Lector did a great job with the plot. In the making of the film he explains that he studied Anthony Hopkins as Lector to try and develop the traits and actions used by Mr. Hopkins as Lector. He must of studied a lot, because his performance was top notch, and I embraced him as the character. The rest of the cast was very good as well, but probably the best performance to stand out in the film was that of Asian super star Gong Li as Lady M. She did a great job in the role and has an outstanding performance. My hat’s off to director Peter Webber for dealing with such a complexed, yet wonderful cast.
The production value of the film was top notch as well, So of the sets and outstanding setting really helped the mood of the film. The CGI was top notch as well, especially the plane and tank scene. As far as make-up effects we do get a lot of bloody scene, so of which are that of true horror. There is plenty of blood, and other fine ways in which Hannibal kills his victims, however it’s not like your conventional gore in horror film. I guess for lack of a better term you can see the effects were done with more class.
Overall, I’m not going to go as far as to say that Hannibal Rising is better than the other Lector films, but it’s still a great film, with an awesome soundtrack. (I love the soundtrack to all the films in the Lector series). The DVD is not packed with a lot of special features, but there are some great behind the scenes documentaries and some good commentaries. I enjoyed the movie for it’s character driven plot and mainly because I’m a Hannibal Lector fan. Check it out.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
