Hannibal Lecter is the perfect villain because we will never understand him. He will always be smarter, more cultured and more sinister than our mortal minds can comprehend. He is the superman, existing on a level beyond us. But as his motivations are unimaginable to us, we are still fascinated by him.
In “Red Dragon”, the latest film to feature the cannibalistic serial killer, Lecter is demoted to a supporting role; but don’t be fooled, he is the still the star. In fact, the main villain of Thomas Harris’s book is secondary here, which is one of the film’s major flaws.
Filmed before in 1986 as “Manhunter”, “Red Dragon” is the story of ex-FBI investigator Will Graham (Edward Norton) who is coaxed back into service following the discovery of a serial killer dubbed The Tooth Fairy. Out of ideas in catching this new menace, Norton goes to Lecter, played wonderfully again by Anthony Hopkins, to bounce ideas off of him in order to find the killer.
Consumed by the writings and art of William Blake, especially his “Red Dragon” painting, the killer, played by Ralph Fiennes, believes he is becoming the evil beast. But as his insanity grows, he unexpectedly becomes involved with a blind woman, played by Emily Watson. This relationship creates an internal turmoil that pulls him in all directions, which was one of the best aspects of Harris’s book.
Fiennes intensity is used to wonderful effect here, but it is his ability to show his human side with Watson that makes this performance great. The exchange between Fiennes and Watson is so well done that it is a shame that it is treated, like the rest of the Tooth Fairy part of the film, as a lesser subplot. If the relationship had been developed more, as it was in Harris’s book and Mann’s film, the resolution would be more powerful than the cheap amusement ride thrill “Red Dragon” ends with.
Understanding the moviegoing public’s thirst for Hannibal Lecter, the filmmakers have unwisely included a ten-minute prologue that explains his capture by Norton. This is a mistake because it makes Norton look lucky, rather than brilliant, and undermines his character. Barney Fife could have done as good of a job.
But the beginning is not the only part that focuses on Lecter. The whole first half of the film is about the conflict between captor and captured as Graham and Lecter go head to head. In Michael Mann’s “Manhunter”, Lecter was confined to the supporting role needed by the film. Here, the filmmakers try desperately to make Lecter the center of the story, destroying the tight plot structure of the book. It is fun to see Hopkins play Lecter again, but the movie suffers from the overexposure.
The main story doesn’t truly begin until halfway through the film. In a truly scary scene between Fiennes and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays a tabloid reporter, the filmmakers forget about Lecter and focus on the main story, proving that the Tooth Fairy plot can stand on its own.
Once the filmmakers allow the main plot to take over, it moves at a quick pace. But with so little time, reason is left out and all potential for a truly suspenseful film gets tossed away. It is too bad since “Red Dragon” is the best of Harris’s books. And if absolutely terrible “Hannibal” is any indication of his future work, it will remain that way.
However, director Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour”), who is a surprising choice to helm this film, proves himself to be very skillful in handling this material. Together with screenwriter Ted Tally, who wrote the screenplay for Jonathan Demme’s “Silence of the Lambs”, Ratner forgoes the gore of “Hannibal” and returns to the more suspenseful execution of Demme’s film. In fact, during the confrontation scenes between Norton and Hopkins, Ratner blatantly steals shots from Demme. But as he is able to film some great scenes, his failure is in meshing them into a tightly plotted film.
As for Hopkins, he gives another brilliant performance as Lecter, returning to a harsher version of the killer after softening him towards the end of Ridley Scott’s “Hannibal.” Moviegoers have so much fun watching him, that one wishes that the filmmakers would make another film, in which Lecter is the main story.