Stellar casting/acting and great cinematography

Rating: 8/10 (18 September 2018)

I thought Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster did amazing work with their roles in this film. One scene in particular I'd like to note is the last time Clarice talks to Hannibal in person, the framing of Clarice's face between the bars to make her feel isolated, and the intense zoom on Hannibal's face to make us uncomfortable was just done very well in my opinion. I also liked how Clarice sat in a chair when she talked to Hannibal to set that power dynamic, Hannibal towered over her when he spoke. Another aspect of Hopkins' performance I want to talk about is the stillness of his head when he speaks. I don't know if this is unique, or even worth talking about, but I loved how when he spoke, only his mouth moved. His eyes were unblinking and his head was still as stone.
I also thought Hopkins' appearance was absolutely perfect for the role he was put into. Great casting.
I didn't like the lack of depth put into Buffalo Bill's character, however. I feel like there was a very one sided approach to the way they showed us this story. We only really saw Clarice's perspective, we only saw Bill in like, two scenes really. The one where he kidnaps the senators daughter and the very few where he's talking to her (I can't recall her name). He was also portrayed as just being completely insane, but when the detectives were talking about him they seemed to believe he was intelligent and good at what he does, but he was just mentally deranged whenever he spoke to the senators daughter, so I feel like Bill's character is the weak point of the film that made me drop the rating a little bit.
Overall, though, I really enjoyed the movie. Great acting performances, I felt genuinely uncomfortable at times, which is great for a horror movie, and it worked very well as a thriller/horror movie.