Hannibal Rising

Hannibal Rising tells the story of America’s most beloved psychopath before we first saw him in Manhunter and Silence of the lambs. The story starts with Hannibal as a small child and shows how his family was killed during World War II. He was particularly troubled by the murder of his sister (which was pretty heinous I must say). He also ended up living in an Orphanage which was located in his family’s former home. Hannibal eventually finds his distant aunt and moves in with her. From here he really starts to become the killer we know and love. He sets out for revenge on those that murdered his sister.

Now onto the movie. I should start off by saying that, while I enjoyed Silence of the lambs when I first saw it, I am not the biggest fan of this series. With that being said, this movie is a bit different from the others in tone and style. I felt the acting by Gaspard Ulliel not particularly inspiring and at time pretty over the top. He did come across as very creepy (which I assume is what they were going for) but he just didn’t give me the felling of silent dread that Anthony Hopkins did. The story was a bit uninspired and kind of patchy in spots. I also didn’t like or believe the sexual tension between Hannibal and his aunt. While I understood Hannibal’s anger towards the men that killed his sister, it seemed a bit contrived.

The death scenes were pretty good and some were bordering on great but that couldn’t save the movie for me. I liken this to many sequels that have had to change main cast members and couldn’t quite capture that same feel. While not as bad as Dumb and dumberer as far as prequels go, it is leagues below Silence of the lambs. I would recommend it to fans of the series but have reservations going in. Non series fans should watch something else.

My rating 6.5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.