HANNIBAL RISING [2007]

Director Peter Webber tackles the Hannibal Lecter film series with the painfully dull origin film Hannibal Rising.
It casts French actor Gaspard Ulliel as an annoyingly smug Lecter who seems to try to hard to balance creepy with what I suspect is supposed to be intelligence.  He's terrible.  Just terrible.  It's got an impressive supporting cast who are all put to complete waste with this snail-paced script that doesn't even attempt to do anything remotely interesting.
It picked up some well-deserved Golden Razzie nominations but ultimately lost to the much more entertaining I Know Who Killed Me and Daddy Day Camp.

1 peck on the cheek out of 5

RED DRAGON [2002]

Director Brett Ratner takes over for the third film and first prequel in the Hannibal Lecter series, Red Dragon, which ultimately serves as Sir Anthony Hopkins final round as everyone's favorite man-eating head doctor.
Unlike Ridley Scott's dismal take on the character, Ratner opts for a more serious tone and results in something nearly as grisly as the original film making for a satisfying conclusion to the Hopkins films.  It doesn't really cover any new territory but it's so well-acted and suffocates the viewer in such an effective unsettling atmosphere it can be forgiven.

3½ smashed mirrors out of 5

HANNIBAL [2001]

Ten years after The Silence Of The Lambs, director Ridley Scott steps in for the second instalment in author Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter series, the lazily titled Hannibal.
Anthony Hopkins returns in the iconic role only now playing it for cheap one-liners making it seem more like a shallow and schlocky horror film rather than the inspired and thoughtful thriller of before.  Surprisingly, Julianne Moore does a fantastic job at filling Jodie Foster's shoes, who wisely declined to take part in this film.
While it has all sorts of great talents working for it, it seems more like a handful of world-class chefs making you a bowl of cereal for dinner and it's mostly Thomas Harris' shoddy source material to blame.  Instead of going for psychological character studies and thrills, it simply aims to go from Point A to B while sloppily grossing you out along the way.

2 little man-eating piggies out of 5

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS [1991]

It's not often a film as disgusting as Jonathan Demme's Silence Of The Lambs receives such high acclaim and recognition for it's brilliance. It deserves every word of it and more.
Based upon Thomas Harris' chilling novel, Silence takes the viewer on a gloomy, diligently crafted exploration of the roads we'd rather not travel.
As much as Sir Anthony Hopkins is recognized as being the scene stealer of the film, I personally feel it's Jodie Foster who holds it all together with her vulnerable, subtly strong and innocent performance. Ted Levine also deserves recognition for his overwhelmingly vile portrayal of the murderer.
With it's gloomy yet graceful photography, detailed set designs, perfect casting (right down to the 2 line bit parts), believable dialogue and expert direction, Silence Of The Lambs is a classic horror masterpiece that still holds up to this day and more than likely many years to come.

5 Quid Pro Quos of out 5