There is a scene near the end of "Hannibal". Let us refer
to it as "The Dinner Party". This scene is so gruesome,
outrageous and delightfully dark that it will be remembered and referred
to for years to come. I also fear that, like the "Hair Gel"
scene in "There's Something About Mary" this scene will
also be an invitation for someone to trump it. It will be an invite
(considering this film's gargantuan opening weekend) for the genre
to move further and further in this direction and, unlike this scene,
with increasingly poor results.
For crafting a scene such as this, a scene that elicited more groans
and winces and panicked, surrealistic laughter than any I can readily
recall, I must give this movie a bit of credit. The filmmakers had
real balls to put this scene in the film. It was in the book, yes,
but that didn't mean that it was guaranteed to make it into the film.
Many things from the book, many great things, were excised. And I
can't help thinking that the movie would have been a much better one
had the filmmakers not decided to wimp out. Had they decided to retain
the ending of the book and many of the deleted characters, this would
have been a far more fulfilling movie.
As it is, it works as a marvelous freak show through the world of
deviant behavior. But it could have been much more.
You should know the plot by now. Hannibal the Cannibal (Anthony Hopkins,
brilliant as always) is on the loose. He once advised a man to peel
off his own face and feed it to dogs. This man, Mason Verger (Gary
Oldman who, truth be told, is unsettling with or without the makeup)
wants to capture Hannibal before the FBI can and administer his own
form of grisly revenge. There, now you know all that you need to know.
There is a subplot involving an Italian police officer (Giancarlo
Gianini) that takes up a little too much time. But I must admit that
just as I was beginning to get restless, this subplot took care of
itself. This subplot took up a few more pages of the book than necessary
also, but oh well. There are Sardinians with expertly-trained boars.
There are unnecessary trips to the carnival. There are bizarre dinners
and gruesome deaths. And all of these are tremendously fascinating.
Particularly considering last year's promises in Hollywood to "get
tough on violence". There is plenty of violence here, much of
it ironic and deliciously hilarious. There is a lot of pitch black
humor. There are plenty of opportunities for Anthony Hopkins to show
his stuff, and lots of stuff it is. I must mention a single teardrop
near the end of the film that is more eloquent and fleshes Hannibal
out more than pages of dialogue would have done. Julianne Moore is
good in this movie but she never quite erases memories of Jodie Foster
(this is not entirely her fault). And the movie moves a bit too slowly.
There are, perhaps, a few too many trips to the opera, a few too many
shots of Florence at sunset. And the characters are not as fleshed
out as they were in the book. Yes, I know that a book can delve more
into the psyches of its characters. I understand that. But with a
couple of the flatter scenes dispatched, there might have been more
opportunity to get inside the uniquely twisted mind of Mason Verger
or to better understand the Sardinians or to include the great character
of Mason's lesbian sister Margot (who was integral to the plot of
the book). When you have characters this distinctive, after all, it
is a true shame not to get to know them better.
But the movie works more often than it fails. And even if it doesn't
succeed completely, it is unique. It is unlike any movie you have
ever seen. But I loved the book. The book is one of the best things
I have ever read. And if you remove the book's original ending (and
ballsy ending) then everything leading up to that ending becomes sort
of pointless. Thus, the entire movie seems like a prelude to something
that will never happen. It seems like the warmup to a completely different
game. And the movie strives a bit too hard to prove itself classy,
a feat that "The Silence
of the Lambs" and "Manhunter" pulled off without
even really trying. But it is a ride unlike any that you have ever
taken, and are ever likely to take. And that, in and of itself, has
its own merits.
But if at all possible......Read the book instead. It's the same price
as seeing the movie, and you have it forever. Think of it that way.
