I always knew I was going to
see another Hannibal Lecter movie, but did it have to be the Muppet
Baby
version of Hannibal Lecter?
Gaspard Ulliel stars as the
infamous Hannibal Lecter - a teen escapee from a Soviet run Lithuanian
orphanage
who has made his way to France,
where he lives with his Uncle’s Japanese bride, Lady Murasaki
(Gong Li). It’s
1952, but Hannibal
still is haunted by the horrible losses
he suffered during World War II. His
family had to flee their elegant castle.
His parents were killed.
Worse
yet, something unthinkable happened to his beloved little sister, and Hannibal
wants revenge on
the men who did it.
While their faces are etched
in his memory, will Hannibal
be able to learn the names of the men who committed such an atrocious
act? Will revenge
bring him peace? When
did Hannibal Lecter become a hero?
Hannibal
Rising is an
uninspired movie that didn’t need to be made.
Director Peter Webber and writer Thomas Harris
(based on his novel by
the same name) have delivered a movie that is overwrought, overly
melodramatic
and completely boring. Webber
and Harris
fail to address the movie’s biggest hurdle – the
fact that we know Hannibal
is going to make it through this thing alive or
else we wouldn’t have the other four Hannibal Lecter movies (Silence of
the
Lambs, Red Dragon,
Hannibal
and Manhunter). Without that hint of
doubt in our minds, Hannibal
Rising is more like a snuff film where Webber and
Harris want to shock us and, in a rather odd choice of words, entertain
us with
the blood and gore. Sure,
we get the
little Karate
Kid montage where he learns the martial arts (wax on
Hannibal, wax off Hannibal), and plenty of
suggestive scenes where we think Hannibal
and his sexy Aunt (by marriage) might start to get it on, but Hannibal
Rising
is a movie devoid of surprise.
Making the movie even worse,
Harris provides some of the clunkiest, moronic dialogue you have ever
heard,
which is kind of amazing for a movie that doesn’t have much
dialogue to begin
with. While my
personal favorite is,
“memory is a knife, it can hurt you,” I was most
tickled when every actor repeatedly
tries to say the name Hannibal
with the weight and gravity that it doesn’t deserve in this
movie.
Then, Hannibal
Rising
features some of the worst acting of the year from people who should
know
better. Rhys Ifans,
playing the ring
leader of the men Hannibal is seeking out, chews up the scenery like Hannibal
tearing into
some fava beans. He’s
horribly stiff and
tries much too hard to be intimidating and animal like.
Ulliel desperately wants to have the gravitas
and menace of Anthony Hopkins, but fails miserably as he leers and
sneers his
way through the performance like David Spade.
Ultimately, Ulliel is an empty vessel.
Someone please drive a stake
through the heart of Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris or anyone else who
wants to
do another one of these movies.
½
Waffle (Out Of 4)
Hannibal
Rising is
rated R for strong grisly content, some language and sexual
references.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com
