Oscar Winner? Ha! Ha!

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2001)

I saw this one at the cinema and came out wondering what all the fuss was about. It was reasonably entertaining but annoying at the same time. I like Anthony Hopkins as an actor but he was hamming it up as Lecter and made the charcter look cartoonish rather than scary. Jodie Foster gave a good impression of a woman trying to reverse out of a parking space.

What surpised me most about this film was that it won several Oscars including best film. It's obvious to me now that the people at the Academy know less about film than most five year olds. Remember when Kramer v Kramer won best film, that was the year Apocalypse Now was released and who can remember the former?
I've learned my lesson since then and have avoided Oscar winners such as Titanic and The English Patient. Silence of the Lambs is an above average thriller but no work of art. The plot is also absurd and goes for cheap thrills with the usual gore and when Buffalo Bill gets his kit off you simply have to yawn, it didn't shock me. As for his victim in the pit, somehow you just wish Bill would end it for the poor girl and the suffering audience.
In summary! Not as good as Manhunter and not the best of Hopkins! 7/10