A Trickster Review : Red Dragon

[The Trickster]

Red Dragon is the prequel to Silence of the Lambs and has been made into a movie previously in the form of Manhunter. It is directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 1 & 2) and stars alongside Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton (Fight Club), Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient), Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction) and Emily Watson (Gosford Park). Many movie watchers, myself included, were extremely disappointed with Hannibal, the last film in the Hannibal trilogy, so upon hearing that Red Dragon was going to be remade with Anthony Hopkins, I thought I could clearly smell the stench of the movie money making industry in full stride. I walked into the cinema clinging to the hope that I would be proved wrong.

The Good
I am happy to report that I was indeed proved wrong. This is not your average word for word remake. This is a stylish and dark thriller, that is more Silence than it is Hannibal. Hopkins has returned to the sinister but intelligent role that made him famous, and left the superhero status that he took on in Hannibal behind. Ralph Fiennes is absolutely perfectly cast in what can only be described as severely deranged, as is Emily Watson, in one of the better blind character performances that I’ve ever seen (watch Toxic Avenger for the worst!) The pacing is good, the suspense is built up well, and most importantly, it doesn’t rely on gore and downright bad taste for shocks like Hannibal.

The Bad
Red Dragon was never going to surpass the greatness that is Silence of the Lambs. Apart from the fact that Silence is just a superior story, the freshness of the film at the time was astounding. Watching Hannibal walk up to the bars with his wide penetrating eyes, madman grin and general aura of intelligence gone wrong, for the first time was a gripping experience. The audience needs more now to get their spine tingling. Also, the chemistry of Norton and Hopkins is certainly there, but it doesn’t come close to the Silence matching of Hopkins and Jody Foster. I’m not fully convinced by the ending either, but I am pleased to see that it was different to Manhunter. I thought I knew what was coming, only to be caught unawares.

Conclusion
A much better film than I expected. Crafted with style and intelligence, Red Dragon joins The Ring as exceptions to the remake failure rule of the past few years. But let’s hope they just leave it as a trilogy and not make what was once very fresh, seem stale.

8/10

[johnny]

Thanks for the tip, i'll add this one to my "must see" list.

[Megabot]

Me to great Ben that you review this movie do you have hundreds of dvd`s home? I have only 25 movies my self but it grows every week ! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Lavindathar]

<font color="cyan">I think you've nailed it on the head there, and I'd give it about a similar mark.

I think your points are extremely valid, and I also believe your dissapointment with the ending was completely justified. It was just cliched, overused.....</font>

[The Trickster]

Originally posted by Megabot: Me to great Ben that you review this movie do you have hundreds of dvd`s home? I have only 25 movies my self but it grows every week ! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I have over 100 dvds Megabot. I spend far too much money on them. I'm going to be more fussy in future as to which ones I buy, as I don't have time to watch them all. I'm only going to buy exceptional films now.

It's good to hear from you Megabot! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[johnny]

Do you still have a VCR Trick ?

[The Trickster]

Originally posted by johnny: Do you still have a VCR Trick ?

Yep, but it doesn't get used very much any more. I find videos look cheap and nasty now after watching so many DVDs. Bring on the recordable DVDs so I can get rid of the VCR all together.

I just bought Episode 2 and Lord of the Rings Extended Version this week, so I'm loving DVDs at the moment. The extras on these movies are phenomenal.

[Azred]

<font color = lightgreen>The movie was very faithful to the book, much like Silence was. Even though I had read the book, the movie was still able to generate a wonderful level of suspense.

Unfortunately like in most movies, we didn't really get to see the background of Francis to see why he turned out like he did. Although you can see that he has some sort of scar over his top lip, you are not really told that he had cleft palate, only some sort of speech impediment. The palate, and its resulting impediment, were some of the sources of his grandmother's cruel treatment of young Francis. Not to mention that she was just a crazy loon. Francis was very similar to Norman Bates, in that the Dragon was the idealization of Francis' grandmother--which is why the Dragon used her teeth.

As for the chemistry between Lecter and Graham versus Lecter and Starling, Starling was someone in whom Lecter could find a protege, perhaps even an equal if steered in the correct direction (as happened in the books). With Graham, he and Lecter are perfect examples of friends who become enemies: Graham respected Lecter and consulted him on several cases for leads into psychological deviancy while Lecter, on the other hand, gave Graham rather fatherly advice on how to deal with and handle his [Graham's] ability to get into the emotional/psychological mindset of his quarries.

I don't think the Tattler reporter came across as slimy enough, though. Oh, well.

Overall, I would also give this one a solid 8 out of 10. [img]graemlins/awesomework.gif[/img] Definitely one for the collection....</font>

[The Trickster]

Excellent input Azred! You obviously really got into the film. I've read Red Dragon also, but not Silence or Hannibal. I think both Manhunter and Red Dragon do the book justice, but in different ways. Then again, I'm yet to see a movie that fully covers all the aspects of a novel.

[NiceWorg]

It was a good movie, and worth of seven-eight stars. It left too many questions to hang in your head, though.

I can´t clearly remember where to shots at Lecter were directed, but I thought it was a wonder that he survived.