The Hannibal Lecter Masterclass - Red Dragon (2002)

Catching Up On Cinema

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This month is Masterclass Month at Catching Up On Cinema!

September 2024 marks our 6th anniversary of podcasting, and to commemorate the occasion, we take a month to do a deep dive on a popular, long-lived movie franchise.

For this year's Masterclass, we'll be reviewing the Hannibal Lecter series of films!

Created by author Thomas Harris, Hannibal Lecter is a charismatic serial killer that, across multiple novels, films, and most recently, TV series, has consistently captivated global audiences since his inception in 1981.

This week, our Masterclass continues with a review of confirmed piece of shit, Brett Ratner's, Red Dragon (2002)!

The second adaptation of the first of Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter series of novels, Brett Ratner's, Red Dragon (2002) is a sanitized, and by the numbers adaptation of the classic novel of the same name.

Once again produced by mega producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis (who also produced Hannibal), Red Dragon, in spite of also featuring the talents of cinematographer, Dante Spinotti (who also shot Manhunter), and Ted Tally (screenwriter of Silence of the Lambs), is somewhat bland, and considerably less stylized rendition of Thomas Harris' novel than Michael Mann's, Manhunter (1986).

Just a short year after the release of Hannibal (2002), Anthony Hopkins returns to reprise his role as Hannibal Lecter, with Edward Nortion starring as Will Graham, previously embodied on screen by William Petersen.

An early example of a fanservice oriented prequel/sequel, Red Dragon goes out of its way to remind viewers at every turn, of the vastly superior Silence of the Lambs. Cast members, characterizations, iconography, and locations from Silence are all exploited, not without justification, but quite readily, and in a fashion that was not yet en vogue in Hollywood.

In spite of its weaker presentation as compared to Manhunter, Red Dragon nevertheless benefits greatly from the novelty factor of its adaptation featuring additional scenes with Hannibal Lecter, and from ,pre greatly emphasizing the characterizations of Francis Dolarhyde and Reba McClane (played by Ralph Fiennes and Emily Watson respectively), who in Manhunter were given considerably less screen time.

Blunt, and not especially confident in it's presentation or storytelling, Red Dragon is almost entirely buoyed by the efforts of its exemplary cast of players, with Ralph Fiennes and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman both making enormous contributions to the entertainment value of the film, in spite of the otherwise pedestrian filmmaking from director and confirmed piece of shit, Brett Ratner.

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