Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Hannibal - Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season, but no major giveaways from season three+++

Hannibal is the critically acclaimed show by Bryan Fuller, who has created many shows (like Wonderfalls and Pushing Daises) that had a lot of critical acclaim and devoted cult followings but never got great ratings. Hannibal falls into that category and ultimately was canceled before it was able to get a proper resolution. Season three picks up months after the events that ended season two in which Lecter was revealed as the Chesapeake Ripper and attacked Jack, Will, and Alana and left them all for dead. We find out the fates of each one of them (and Abagail Hobbs, who was revealed to be alive), but not immediately in the first episode. The first half of the season was adapted from the Hannibal and Hannibal Rising storylines with Hannibal and Bedelia Du Maurier living in Europe under assumed identities. The second half of the season adapts the Red Dragon storyline and brings in Richard Armitage (from the Hobbit movies) as Francis Dolarhyde and Rutina Wesley (from True Blood) as Reba McClane. The season, and thus the series, ends on a pretty big cliffhanger and an epilogue that hints at the outcome of the cliffhanger.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is, like with the prior season releases, very good. There are also a ton of extras included in the set. There are ten commentary tracks, so most of the episodes, which include various members of the cast and showrunners providing commentary. Then there are deleted scenes, a gag reel, and the series of postmortem segments with cast member Scott Thompson (that run about an hour combined). Then there are a series of making-of featurettes, the shortest of which runs just under 17-minutes, and the longest that runs over two hours devoted to reimagining the Red Dragon storyline. So, if you like bonus material, this gives you a lot.

Overall, the series is very good. Of course, it is very gory and violent. There is not much in the way of sex, but the gore is over-the-top. The acting is top-notch all around. The writers definitely took a chance ending the show on a cliffhanger without a true resolution, and the show ended up being canceled after most of the filming wrapped so we never do get a true resolution of the story. That said, it is still a great series that is worth watching even if not everything gets wrapped up in a nice bow.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Hannibal: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major giveaways from season two+++

The second season of Hannibal starts off with a bang, actually foreshadowing a portion of the events that will end the season, then it picks up shortly after Will's (Hugh Dancy) arrest for the murder of Abigail Hobbs, having been framed by Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen). The season cherry-picks elements from the various novels including Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs and puts twists on them. For example, Will is the one in custody and consulting with the FBI. Of course, he is trying to figure out a way to prove his innocence. This season introduces Mason Verger and his sister Margot and puts a twist on that storyline. The crux of the plot in season two is whether, and when the FBI will find out that Lecter is really the Chesapeake Ripper. Will is convinced of it and tries to get Crawford (Lawrence Fishburne) to figure it out predicting that Lecter would be throwing a dinner party after he has killed enough people to get fresh meat. The season again ends on a major cliffhanger going into season three (which was not assured when the season finale was filmed).

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality is stunning. The visuals are gory but amazing and it is really like a movie experience. The extras include commentary tracks on multiple episodes (seven of the thirteen, with one episode getting two different commentary tracks). The commentaries usually include the series creator Bryan Fuller and various members of the cast and crew. Then, there is an almost 90-minute feature on the making of episode five, three shorter behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes that generally discuss the making the entire season, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and nine episodes of "post mortem" in which Scott Thompson who plays Jimmy Price interviews various members of the cast. The nine episodes have a total run time of about 42 minutes. So, there are a ton of extras if you like watching them.

Overall, the show is great. It is very violent and bloody and definitely pushed the bounds of what was appropriate for network tv. If you are a fan of Fuller's other cult following shows like Wonderfalls and Pushing Daises, you will probably like this. Also, I think the show did a good job putting a spin on Harris' novels and so if you enjoyed the books, you will probably like the series too. It is different from the Anthony Hopkins-led movies, and Mads Mikkelsen definitely does not try to copy Hopkins, making his version of Lecter his own. The supporting and recurring cast is great and filled with recognizable stars like Gillian Anderson, Raúl Esparza, Cynthia Nixon, Eddie Izzard, Anna Chlumsky, Gina Torres, and more. The storyline is a nice blend of procedural and serial where the individual cases of the week all tie together. So, it plays out like a 13-hour horror movie. It is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Red Dragon

 

“Red Dragon” rounds out what ended up being a trilogy of Hannibal Lecter movies starring Anthony Hopkins in the starring role. 2002. This is a prequel to the iconic 1991 movie Silence of the Lambs but was made after the sequel to Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, which was made in 2001. This is also a remake of the 1986 movie Manhunter with the same storyline which starred Brian Cox as Lecter. This one co-stars Edward Norton as Will Graham, the FBI agent who originally captured Lecter. We see how Lecter was caught at the beginning of the movie, and then for the rest of the film, he is in the familiar dungeon-like cell that we see him in Silence of the Lambs. This movie centers around a serial killer that is nicknamed The Tooth Fairy. Graham comes out of retirement to work the case and enlists Lecter's help to catch the Tooth Fairy. Lecter serves in much the same role as he does in Silence of the Lambs, but has a much different dynamic with Graham than he did with Clarice. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

For those who get the blu ray, the A/V quality is very good, with a lot of great cinematographic shots. The extras include several deleted, extended, and alternate scenes, over an hour's worth of making-of, and behind-the-scenes featurettes (that range from a minute or two, to about forty minutes, an FBI profiling feature, and two commentary tracks on the film, one by the director and writer and one by the composer.

Overall, the movie is good, but not as good as Silence of the Lambs. I would say it is on par with, or a bit better, than Hannibal. I think having Lecter in the advising role especially given Anthony Hopkins' age, works better. All of the actors did a great job with their characters with Fiennes and Philip Seymour Hoffman really standing out. So, even though it is not as good as Silence, it is still worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Hannibal Rising

 

Hannibal Rising is an origin story for the character of Hannibal Lecter (played by the combination of Aaran Thomas who plays Lecter as a child and Gaspard Ulliel who plays him as a young adult). The movie starts in 1941 during World War II in Lithuania. Toward the end of the war, Lecter's parents are killed and he is surviving in his family's lodge with his sister Mischa, until a group of five former Lithuanian militiamen, led by a Nazi collaborator named Vladis Grutas, storm and loot the lodge and then kill (and eat) Lecter's sister. The rest of the film is basically a revenge story as adult Lecter hunts down and kills the men who killed his sister. The main supporting cast includes Gong Li as Lecter's aunt Lady Murasaki, Dominic West as Inspector Pascal Popil, and Rhys Ifans as Vladis Grutas.

For those who get the Blu-Ray disc, the movie looks and sounds great. The cinematography of the movie is wonderful, and there are a bunch of really nice location shots. The extras include a commentary track on the movie with the director and producer, about five minutes worth of deleted scenes, a few making-of featurettes, promos for the movie, and preview trailers for other movies.

Overall, the movie is a good origin story for the character. I know a lot of people do not like it because Ulliel does not really channel Anthony Hopkins (plus he does not look like a young Anthony Hopkins), but that was really the point. In this movie, he was not the refined character he was when Hopkins played him. He is on a revenge mission and then discovers he likes to kill, so his revenge mission essentially turns him into a serial killer. Of course, it is hard for any actor to play a different version of an iconic character, but I think trying to make young Lecter exactly like the older version would not have worked or been believable. My only gripe with the movie, and what knocks it down a star for me is that the pacing is fairly uneven. The movie definitely feels like it drags in parts, but overall what is good about the movie outweighs the bad. If you go into it with the expectation that you are not going to get a recreation of Hopkin's performance in Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Red Dragon, you will probably enjoy the movie.

Blu-Ray/Movie Collection Review: The Hannibal Lecter Collection (Manhunter / Silence of the Lambs / Hannibal)

 

This set contains the first three Hannibal Lecter movies, Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, and its direct sequel Hannibal. Manhunter, which was made in 1986 and starred Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter and William Petersen as Will Grahm. It is basically the Red Dragon story that would be remade years later with Hopkins in the role of Lecter with a much different tone and feel. There are some that think Manhunter is the best movie adaptation of any of the Thomas Harris novels, but I generally prefer the Hopkins movies, probably because I saw Silence of the Lambs first.

Silence of the Lambs was the classic 1991 film that starred Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI agent who used Lecter's knowledge to help capture a serial killer named Buffalo Bill, played by Ted Levine. It was definitely more of a thriller than it was a horror movie. There are some gory parts, but nothing akin to say the Saw franchise. It is much more of an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller than it is anything else.

Hannibal is the sequel to Silence of the Lambs, with Julianne Moore taking over the role of Clarice trying to track down Lecter, as was his last surviving victim, Mason Verger, played by Gary Oldman. While this does have the psychological thriller element to it, it is much gorier than Silence of the Lambs was. While I think Moore did a good job as Clarice, it was definitely not the same without Jodie Foster in that role, and I think the movie suffered somewhat because of it.

The A/V quality of the movies is good, but none of them got a high-quality HD upgrade. As far as extras go, there are trailers on Manhunter and Hannibal, but that is it. Silence of the Lambs carries over the extras from its initial DVD release, including a picture-in-picture commentary track on the movie that includes interviews with the cast members as the movie plays. Then there are several behind-the-scenes and making-of documentaries that range from about 8-minutes to over an hour. Then you get a bunch of deleted scenes, outtakes, trailers, and TV spots for the movie. So, there are a lot of good extras for that movie, but little to nothing for the other two, which is a shame.

Overall, this is a good collection. Of course, Silence is largely considered one of the best movies of all time. It is interesting to see the original Manhunter movie given that it was never a widely acclaimed movie, especially for those of us who were way too young to see it when it first came out. Hannibal is a good movie, but nowhere near as good as Silence. So, those are things that you should take into consideration when deciding whether to get this set or just get Silence on its own.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Hannibal: Season 1

 

Hannibal, as one would guess, is an adaptation of the Hannibal Lecter story, set when he is a practicing psychiatrist and well before his capture. In the series, Hannibal is played wonderfully by Mads Mikkelsen and created by Bryan Fuller, who created some other wonderful cult classic series like Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls, that were loved by a small group of fans and critics, but never received wide acclaim.

The series is set around FBI Special Investigator Will Graham ( played by Hugh Dancy), who in this iteration has the ability to empathize with killers and mentally re-create their crimes with vivid detail Graham is drawn into the investigation of a series of missing college girls by Special Agent Jack Crawford (played by Laurence Fishburne), who has basically exploits Graham's ability to solve cases. Crawford, by recommendation of Dr. Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas), enlists the help of Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), who helps Crawford and Graham with the case, and from there the series goes on with additional murders, and Lecter both "helping" the FBI investigation and acting as a psychiatrist for Graham.

Of course, anyone who is familiar with the Hannibal Lecter stories knows full well who is responsible for many of the murders, so the suspense aspect of the series is more about when will the other characters figure it out and when will he get caught. There is a lot of misdirection and twists, even in a relatively short season, and the season ends on a big cliffhanger.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality is wonderful. The series has a lot of stunning visuals, many of them very gory, that look great in HD. The extras include commentary tracks on two episodes, approximately 40 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, a short gag reel, and one deleted scene.

Overall, the series is great. It is well written and acted. Given it is about a serial killer, it is very gory, with many staged murder scenes that look very realistic. And, you know what is for dinner even when the characters in the show do not (and there are a lot of dinners). Mikkelsen takes the character of Lecter and makes it his own, and does not try to recreate or channel what Anthony Hopkins did in the movies. The characters of Crawford and Graham are also much deeper and more complex than they were in the movies. So, while I cannot say this is a show that will appeal to everyone, if you like the Hannibal Lecter series, either in the books or any of the movie adaptations, this is definitely worth watching.