Uneasy mix of genuine chills and "Hollywood"

Rating: 5/10 (28 July 2011)

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991), based on the major awards that it won (Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress) could be considered the most overrated film of the 90s. While the film has it's plusses, it fails for me in being a purely chilling horror movie, which is what I think it should be. I'm not as enamored of Jonathan Demme's psychological yarn as so many others.
First and foremost, SOTL is a boring movie! The first scene between Oscar-winning stars Jodie Foster (as FBI recruit Clarice Starling) and Anthony Hopkins (as imprisoned psychotic Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter) is definitely a keeper. Much as I don't like this movie, I DO really like that intense early scene! But everything after that just drags...and drags...and drags! Foster and Hopkins, while good, do not IMHO give Oscar-worthy performances. Foster's "Southern" accent is fairly overwrought and phony and Hopkins kind of hams it up too much as Lecter. They really don't embody their characters so much as they are just "acting". Foster is basically a made-to-order female hero for everyone to fawn over and Hopkins is there for entertainment value only.
Now, there ARE scary parts to SOTL, just none involving Hannibal. The real scary parts are of Starling's prey Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine in a genuinely creepy performance) and his latest hostage Catherine (Brooke Smith in an authentic performance). The scenes of Bill's dungeon are very unsettling. But everything revolving around the capture (the investigation, the dead ends, the MacGuffins, etc.) is the standard Hollywood storyline. It was obvious from the get-go that Starling was going to catch Bill, but the way it was done was extremely pedestrian.
SOTL isn't even the best film with "Hannibal". That honor goes to the superior Michael Mann-directed film Manhunter from 1986, which is much more involving, intense, and satisfying. It has a better, more believable hero (William Peterson's Will Graham), a better Hannibal (Brian Cox), and an even better antagonist (Tom Noonan's multi-layered Francis Dollarhyde). Manhunter was a police procedural, but also took the time to develop and delve into the psyche of it's characters. SOTL seems to be more interested in putting on a show. Then again, showmanship is what usually wins Oscars!