HANNIBAL; From disembowled detectives to fried frontal lobes, it’s a gory, gross time
By Jamelah Earle
Editor-In-Chief

If I were to eat my frontal lobe, I‘d find it pretty tasty.

I learned this, and a good many other interesting (and completely gory) details while watching Hannibal last weekend.

This new Ridley Scott-directed film, the follow up to 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, is a chance for us, the viewing public, to watch Anthony Hopkins being a complete psycho. And he does a good job.

The screenplay is by Thomas Harris and David Mamet, and was taken from Harris’ novel of the same name.

This time, instead of having a safely incarcerated Hannibal torturing FBI special agent Clarice Starling played by Jodie Foster, we get a Hannibal on the loose, bugging the heck out of FBI special agent Clarice Starling, played by Julianne Moore.

It’s not that Julianne Moore didn’t do a good job in her role, but she’s just not Jodie Foster. Perhaps it’ s unfair to make the comparisons, but it’s impossible not to. Julianne Moore lacks Foster’s likeability, and instead of rooting for her to return Hannibal to jail, I kept wanting him to kill her so she’d go away.

The film takes place all over the world this time, starting in Washington D.C., and then moving to Florence, Italy, where Hannibal has taken a job as a lecturer and librarian.

This lasts for about a half an hour, but then bloodthirsty Dr. Lecter kills someone and has to return to the United States.

When he gets there, he’s captured by a guy who’s even crazier than him (if that’s possible). This man was one of Hannibal’s victims-the only one to survive-and is played quite well by Gary Oldman. His makeup was incredible-it was impossible to tell it was him until the final credits rolled.

It was during this part of the movie that I learned that being eaten by wild boars is not a cool way to die. If nothing else, watching Hannibal was certainly a learning experience.

Anyway, this time around, we get to see that Hannibal Lecter has a softer side. We learn why he kills people and eats them (it’s to teach a lesson to the rude). We also see that all movies about serial killers aren’t scary.

Sure, there were a few moments in the film where I felt a little nervous, but there was nothing that brought me remotel close to the nail-biting fear that The Silence of the Lambs caused in me. Mostly, this film relies on gore.

And humor.

Who knew that lobotomies could be funny?

In all, this film is a showpiece for Anthony Hopkins. In case anyone was wondering, he’s a great actor.

It’s my opinion that this film misses the mark. I knew who he was going to kill ahead of time, and so there wasn’t any suspense. I desperately wanted to be scared, but instead I got grossed out.

So I guess that if you want to see a Hannibal Lecter that will scare the wits out of you, go rent The Silence of the Lambs. If you want to see a charming cannibalistic serial killer, however, this one’s for you.