Phenomenal, but flawed

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2009)

Silence of the Lambs is a phenomenal movie. May be it was Anthony Hopkins's best performance, or one of the bests, and the character Hannibal Lecter was unforgettable, phenomenal too. Besides those, there were a few scenes which deserve to be put in cinema anthology! However, this doesn't mean that the movie is a quintessential masterpiece. There is no problem with Jodie Foster, she shines in the movie and she is one of my all time favorite actresses. Her portrayal was so realistic in the movie. The first conversation between Starling and Lecter was epic, unforgettable. I used to watch this scene regularly, after I had bought the movie. And the famous jail scene... Brilliantly horrifying! Jonathan Demme shot this scene honorably, but this does not spread to the movie in general. At times, the movie feels like a TV episode. There are some chilling moments which also works like a real, pure detective movie, but then it turns into an ordinary drama again. There could have been more suspense or mystery. I found the climax of the film pretty weak and low key in a bad way for such a phenomenal movie, I had expected a powerful, absorbing, intriguing final, but there was none. And there is one more flaw in the movie and It is the character Buffalo Bill! He has no background, even no existence! I mean no character study which is weird for such a movie. He is not the focus of the movie, but also he is the key character of the movie. No real investigation, no cat and mouse game, no murder scene... Buffalo Bill seems like he is not an appropriate character for Silence of the Lambs, because it has no point rather than he is Buffalo Bill! Buffalo Bill might have been suitable for Friedkin's Cruising, for instance. Francis Dollarhyde in Manhunter was an unlikeable character for me, but at least, it was a well portrayed character.