Unremarkable. Why the Oscars?

Rating: 6/10 (9 August 2013)

I've always wanted to see Silence of the Lambs and finally got to today. I thought that Hannibal Lector sounded like a really cool character and of course I anticipated excellent film-making with the sort of praise it has received.
I saw it, and I would say that as far as movies like this go, it is excellent. But for cinema in general, Silence is unremarkable and, really, given the hype and awards, ultimately disappointing.
Jodie Foster was good, but she is haunted by the slaughter of a lamb from her childhood? Ridiculous. Anthony Hopkins was great. I think he deserved his award, though his performance is overrated. Not exactly a very complex or hard to portray character...
The story was not particularly exciting. It was fairly clumsy and failed to capture my attention. I was repelled by Buffalo Bill but not interested in his character whatsoever. I watched the movie for the rare encounters with Hannibal Lector, and the search for Buffalo Bill was an uninteresting but necessary backdrop. Also, how on Earth would the FBI bring a SWAT team to a house that is a false tip, that is hundreds of miles away from the killings...? It makes no sense - they completely ignored the evidence and conclusions they had already made. And so, when the so-called thrilling doorbell scene took place, I was not surprised. Of course he's not in Chicago. Ridiculous.
I can honestly say I enjoyed Lector's escape. It was clever and suspenseful (if a bit illogical) and to some degree makes the movie.
And is this movie scary, as has been said? No. Definitely not. The serial killer is creepy, not terrifying. Hannibal is intriguing, but not too scary. I've heard of people not sleeping for days, others having horrific nightmares... I don't understand it.
This movie is worth watching if you like thrillers/serial killer/ kind of movies, but if you go into this film expecting a great piece of cinema, some groundbreaking technique or idea, or a thrilling scene or two as I did, you will be disappointed. A good movie, yes. 23rd on IMDb Top 250? Absolutely not. An 8.7 on IMDb? No.