nearly perfect (note the nearly)

Rating: Null/10 (20 March 2001)

I cannot recommend or rate this film higher on my list of movies, but when all is said and done and the dust has settled, it is not without flaws.
The Silence Of The Lambs follows the story of Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee who becomes entangled in a sort of psychological cat-and-mouse with the imprisoned Dr. Lecter in order to catch a serial killer who has a habit of skinning girls. Hannibal Lecter is a polite, cultured, and brilliant man who's desires are expressed in his curt tounge and in his desires for human flesh. and for every step Lecter helps Starling take, he is leading her farther into his mind.
as Lecter, Anthony Hopkins turns in possibly the best performance in recent memory. he raditates both amazing intelligence and humanity, and a chilling psychopathic edge. he steals the movie with less than 30 minutes of screen time (a quarter of the movie's whole).
Jodie Foster, as Starling, turns in a wonderfully subtle performance. watch her crumble as Lecter 'examines' her in an early scene without barely moving her face. we see about 5 expressions reflected on her visage simultaniously. later, when she must appear to be terrified, she looks it, in a realistic manner. try getting a more qualified actress.
sadly, outside of the Lecter/Starling relationship, the movie is still amazingly good, but pales in comparison to the chillingly appealing Lecter. Ted Levine is the weak link in the cast. he never acts truly scary, at least to me, but he doesn't act normal either. he appears almost clownish next to Lecter, and while he delivers everything that is expected of him in an effective manner, he never became a serious threat. of course, it's hard to imagine anybody else inhabiting his mazelike basement dungeon. and it's hard not to get creeped out when he begins calmly ordering a tourtered woman that "it rubs the lotion on it's skin."
in the end, Silence is an effective and intelligent movie that never outstays it's welcome. it is never really *scary*, but it is tense as anything you'll find in modern cinema. a modern classic, but nothing's perfect.