Product Details

• Actors: Anthony Hopkins; Julianne Moore; Gary Oldman; Ray Liotta; Frankie Faison
• Directors: Ridley Scott
• Format: Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English, Italian, Japanese
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: February 5, 2002
• Run Time: 131 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (682 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005LKIN
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #125,127 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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• This is item 3 in The Hannibal Lecter Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Yes, he's back, and he's still hungry. Ten years after The Silence of the Lambs, Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins, reprising his Oscar-winning role) is living the good life in Italy, studying art and sipping espresso. FBI agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore, replacing Jodie Foster), on the other hand, hasn't had it so good--an outsider from the start, she's now a quiet, moody loner who doesn't play bureaucratic games and suffers for it. A botched drug raid results in her demotion--and a request from Lecter's only living victim, Mason Verger (Gary Oldman, uncredited), for a little Q and A. Little does Clarice realize that the hideously deformed Verger--who, upon suggestion from Dr. Lecter, peeled off his own face--is using her as bait to lure Dr. Lecter out of hiding, quite certain he'll capture the good doctor.

Taking the basic plot contraptions from Thomas Harris's baroque novel, Hannibal is so stylistically different from its predecessor that it forces you to take it on its own terms. Director Ridley Scott gives the film a sleek, almost European look that lets you know that, unlike the first film (which was about the quintessentially American Clarice), this movie is all Hannibal. Does it work? Yes--but only up to a point. Scott adeptly sets up an atmosphere of foreboding, but it's all buildup for anticlimax, as Verger's plot for abducting Hannibal (and feeding him to man-eating wild boars) doesn't really deliver the requisite visceral thrills, and the much-ballyhooed climatic dinner sequence between Clarice, Dr. Lecter, and a third unlucky guest wobbles between parody and horror. Hopkins and Moore are both first-rate, but the film contrives to keep them as far apart as possible, when what made Silence so amazing was their interaction. When they do connect it's quite thrilling, but it's unfortunately too little too late. --Mark Englehart

From The New Yorker

Ten years after "The Silence of the Lambs," Hannibal Lecter returns to the table. He is played, once again, by Anthony Hopkins, who seems both more placid-as you would expect, for the doctor has been enjoying his freedom-and more particular in his cravings. Lecter is in Florence, where he is suspected by a local detective (Giancarlo Giannini, the best and most rumpled thing in the movie). Also on the trail is Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore), who is now an outcast within the F.B.I. Huntress and prey finally meet; indeed, we are given to understand that they can barely keep away from each other. What spoils the harmony is the vengeful presence of Mason Verger (played by an uncredited star), one of Lecter's less decorous victims. The screenwriters, David Mamet and Steven Zaillian, do a good job of sifting the dross from Thomas Harris's novel, and the director, Ridley Scott, gets elegant value from what remains. The locations are lush, the reworked ending could not be neater, and the special effects were apparently devised by an abattoir. There's just one problem, and it's insurmountable: this is not a scary movie. You may gawp or flinch, but your pulse, like that of Dr. Lecter himself, will stay disappointingly slow. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking For Mr. Goodfella......, December 30, 2002

By	L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (fountain valley, ca United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Hannibal (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

This review refers to the Special Edition DVD of "Hannibal"(MGM)...

After the first viewing of this film I had it set in my mind that this was a three star movie.I thought it was pretty good, but it was no "Silence". I watched it again on this outstanding DVD, and viewed it as a seperate story from "Silence of the Lambs".I am glad I did, because it was the second time around that I realized what a great movie it is in it's own right.Under the direction now of Ridley Scott,a terrific screenplay by David Mamet and Steven Zaillian,stunning photography by John Mattheson, the haunting score by Hans Zimmer, and with a brillant cast, "Hannibal" is a thrill ride you won't soon forget.

Based on the novel by Thomas Harris,the story picks up 10 Years after Dr. Lector(Anthony Hopkins) has made his escape. He is living in Italy and seems to be quite restless. After learning that his "beloved" Clarice(Julianne Moore)has been disgraced in a botched drug bust, he comes out of hiding and cleverly draws her into his web once more.The story is a bit more complex than that though.Along the way Clarice must deal with a cunning Agent(Ray Liotta) who is out to humiliate her, and a wealthy man who was a victim of Dr. Lector's, survived quite disfigured and is now out for revenge.Then there's the Italian Detective who has discovered the identity of Lector as well as the huge reward and decides to try his luck as well.Well, we all know by now what happens when you mess with Dr. Lector.You will never think of Ray Liotta as a "goodfella" again after you see what the Doc has planned for him! The story is a roller coaster ride of thrills and chills.Lots of suspenseful and nail biting scenes. This film is definetly not for the sensitive viewer.

There is no one else who could ever be Dr. "Hannibal" Lector other than Sir Anthony Hopkins. He's as terrifying as ever. Julianne Moore does a perfect take on a tougher and more mature Agent Starling.It's a departure for Ray Liotta from his usual style but he is perfect as the despicable nemesis to Clarice.I would also mention Giancarlo Giannini gives a great performance as the pitiful detective. The make up and special effects are so good, that I won't even mention who performs such an excellent job as the angry disfigured millionaire. I did not even realize who it was the first time until the end credits, and don't want to give it away for first time viewers.

Fans of this film will delight in this DVD. First of all the transfer is gorgeous. All the beautiful cinematography of Italy and it's famous historical landmarks are breathtaking, The picture is in the theatrical release widescreen. Choose between DTS or Dolby 5.1 Surround. The sounds are clear and distinctive and the score will take your breath away. Images and colors are excellent as well.This is a two disc set. There's a ton of goodies to watch. You can spend all day with Hannibal or watch a different feature each time you view the film. I especially enjoyed "Breaking the Silence" which runs well over an hour and encompasses every phase of the making of the film(it's broken into segments if you have something particular you are interested in.) The segment with Hans Zimmer was wonderful.For a full list of the featurettes please see the tech. info.It may also be viewed in French or Spanish and has subtitles in those as well as English for those who may need them.Altogether a dynamite package.

Get reaquainted with Dr. Lector,but remember..mind your manners at dinner!....Have fun...Laurie

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than a grotesque horror film, November 3, 2002

By	Karen Gassaway (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hannibal [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Writing this movie off as a senseless catalogue of horrors does a terrible injustice to it. In this version, Lecter is free and living in Tuscany, which automatically involves a shift in the tone of the film. No longer the caged animal, Dr. Lecter is living the high life in Florence as an expert in Medieval and Early Renaissance Literature. Lecter free is Lecter happy, and Anthony Hopkins admirably portrays his verve. I thought Julianne Moore portrayed an older, more world-weary, Clarice Starling with skill, and is by no means just a second-choice-after-Jodie-Foster. Foster's Starling was inexperienced, though promising. Moore shows the flowering of that promise superbly. Gary Oldman played as he always does, with a brilliant conviction. But enough, anyone can test the truth of this by viewing the movie.

What I thought was missing in previous reviews, and which spurred me to write this one, is an explanation for the violence of Hannibal. It was sufficient to turn many viewers' stomachs, and I'm not entirely sure that they were wrong, albeit one can see equally graphic video of *real live people* with the top of their head cut away while undergoing brain surgery--in some cases they are still conscious and talking! In the other cases, the cinematography shows very little. The disfiguring of Mason Verger is in blurry and shaky camera work, the attack on the nurse (referred to in Silence and played in video here) is entirely obscured by Lecter's back and the bodies of two orderlies, and the final end of Mason Verger is again primarily not seen, only enough is shown to give us an idea of the horror. That so many reacted so strongly suggests that Ridley Scott achieved his probable goal in showing us little, but making it seem like much more. The violence is not gratuitous, nor does it detract from the psychological aspects of the story, rather it allows us to delve into the psychology of Lecter as never before. Hannibal is Lecter's murderous fantasies made flesh, just as the equally mad Mason Verger nurses his plans of revenge by flesh-eating boars. In each case, these wealthy, cultured men seem to take their inspiration from their reading, and here's the irony in the previous reviews which decry Hannibal as an expression of everything that is wrong with American culture and cinema: Hannibal's violence comes straight from the classic literature and arts both he and Mason Verger live on. The analogy between the death of Rinaldo Pazzi and the end of Judas Iscariot is made explicit, but there are even more instances of literary borrowings. Adonis was killed by a man-eating boar, and even eating brains has literary precedent: Ugolino della Gherardesca, the Count of Donoratico, was of a Ghibelline family, but double-crossed them to raise the Guelphs to power in Pisa. When the Ghibellines seized control, he was dispatched to prison by Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini where he died. They both betrayed something, the Archbishop his acquantance, and the Count his country and family tradition, so Dante put them both in Cocytus in Canto XXXIII, where the Count was forever eating away at the brain of his treacherous friend. Thyestes may also be another model, in this case the Thyestian banquet is made even more ironic by the fact that Krendler is unaware of his self-cannibalization. This is the sort of stuff Lecter and Verger learned, and it's not ultimately unsurprising that they'd fashion their revenges and violence on classical models, which allows us insight into the way they think. Far from being less psychologically interesting than its predecessor, Hannibal becomes more so, because we are able to see their motivations made plain by each act of violence.

So, for those who are still offended, be careful not to look to closely at classic literature, Greek and Roman myth, the works of ancient historians, and don't ever attend the opera!

Ta ta.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Piece of His Mind, March 23, 2001

By	Archmaker (California) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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This review is from: Hannibal (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

I read the book Hannibal and thought it was unfilmable. I was pleasantly surprised therefore to find that two superb screenwriters, David Mamet and Steve Zaillion, were able to make the changes necessary to delete the parts of the book that didn't work while keeping the essence of Thomas Harris's exercise in dark malevolence.

Hannibal Lecter is the boogie man. He is the distillation of the nightmare villain...brilliant, cultured, educated, refined, erudite and thoroughly ruthless and bloodthirsty. He is a creation of fiction, no more real than Dracula or Professor Moriarty. He bears no resemblance to actual serial killers, who by and large are a drab, colorless, undistinguished lot. Maybe that's why we are fascinated by Hannibal, all that talent and charm put to wicked uses.

Please note one thing, the book and the movie take place 10 years AFTER Silence of the Lambs. Clarice Starling is not the wide-eyed innocent of Silence, but a street-tough working cop that is getting jerked around by the bureaucracy she has served faithfully and well. She is the only truly moral person in an unjust and cruel world. It is that morality that ironically is her attraction for Hannibal. It would have been interesting to see, but I'm not sure Jody Foster could have brought that toughness to the role. Julianne Moore did fine.

Anthony Hopkins owns the role. As in Silence, it isn't him jumping out and going "BOO!" that makes us uneasy, it is the sinister stillness and self-posession of his Hannibal that frightens and chills. All that evil nastiness contained within that can be unleashed at any time. Hopkin's Hannibal is a marvelous creation of wit and charm, ridding the world of "free range rude".

Speaking of nastiness, the movie is wickedly funny with lots of nasty tidbits. "Okee dokee, here we go now" as matter-of-factly as an usher or a tour guide, "bowels in or out?".

I don't know if Thomas Harris was trying to write a sequel so over-the-top lurid as a challenge to Hollywood "I dare you to film this" or if he looked around at a culture so harsh and unjust and cruel and crass that he decided to pour all of that into his book and pull a terrific stunt...make the cannibal the hero. Regardless, he gave us a deliciously wicked read that Ridley Scott has transformed into a stylish and wicked movie.

Not for everyone's taste (pun intended) for sure, and not with the broad appeal of Silence, Hannibal exists on it's own terms and has it's own pleasures and rewards. The supporting performances are all fine, cinematography excellent. Finally, the material ultimately is not as emotionally engaging as Silence, and for that it just misses 5 stars...but another encounter with Clarice and Dr. Lecter is more interesting than most.