Could have been better

Rating: 4/10 (7 June 2007)

I'll confess, I prefer reading a good book to seeing a movie. There's something about the way the words come alive in my head that will always beat out even the best of movies. But when a book I love is turned into a movie, I have to see it. Call it morbid curiosity if you like; I always wonder if the story will survive the transfer from book to movie and if the director will be true to what the book does. Sometimes, the transition is better than other times. Lord of the Rings was spectacular. This moviewas not, I'm sad to say.
I think the fault does not lie with the actors, at least not entirely. Anthony Hopkins shone as Hannibal (how could he not?), but his scenes were handled badly. The scene that stands out for me as the worst in the movie was, unfortunately, the first meeting between Clarice and Hannibal. This is most unfortunate because that particular scene is one of my favorites in the book. I wonder if the director actually read the book this movie is based on. To the director: with all due respect, Hannibal is a gentleman. He would not shout for Clarice because gentlemen do not shout for women as if they were dogs. According to the book, he called her name repeatedly as she was walking away, and only her desire for advancement brought her back. Also, this scene was horribly abbreviated, as were all the other scenes between Clarice and Hannibal.
Part of the blame is on the shoulders of the director, but Jodie Foster in the role of Clarice must take some of the blame as well. There were moments when she made Clarice shine, and I saw in her face all the strength and courage that I loved and admired in the book. The final showdown, however, ruined it for me. Jodie may have won an Oscar for this performance, but I suspect that those who decide on those awards never read the book. Jodie showed good emotion, if the director asked for fear. Shaking hands, fast breathing, fumbling for bullets, the whole spiel. But that's not the character of Clarice. In the first place, Clarice was at the top of her shooting class; she'd practiced taking her gun out of its holster four thousand times (according to the book). She was smooth in her draw, not fumbling. In the second place, Clarice doesn't show fear. She's fully aware in the cellar that Buffalo Bill could be around every corner, and being a female and showing him fear is giving him the advantage. She knows that. According to all I've read in the book, she knows how to control her fear.
Now, I'll admit, I'm biased about this movie because I love the book. And there were moments when there was a definite shine in the movie: Crawford was brilliantly good, and while Jame Gumb was a little too retarded, he did well. But what made the book brilliant was sadly lacking. I'd never buy this movie.