Look past the cover of this movie

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2003)

In my opinion, and once again this is my opinion. You have to truely look past the surface of this film to see why it swept the oscars. Anthony Hopkins is in no way overacting. The Lector character because of Hopkins is truely deserving of the AFI's top villian in movie history. Lector was supposed to be portrayed the way that he was because he is by far different than any other person that lived. The point of the film was to show the horrific yet intelligent man could possibly exist. Lector was intended to be cunning and intellectual yet terrifying. I dont know if anyone else noticed but its Anthony Hopkins person and appearance that makes the character. The eyes and voice and demeanor of lector cold the part. If you do a little research on the fbi's website you'll see that some serial killers were intelligent. And yes i do understand that lector was a mix of more than one infamous killer. Moving on, Jodie foster as Clarice may not have been the favorite choice of every movie buff out there but really look at her performance. She fit in the movie nearly flawlessly. She looks weak in the film,as she is supposed too. The elevator scene in the beginning of the movie as she goes to see Crawford shows her size disadvantage. She pale to show her contrast to the world around her. You'll also notice the same contrasts at the coroners office after the discovery of Federica Bimmels bodie. It is imperative to notice that Clarice is in no way perfect. In her training she enters the room incorrectly, at the first lector interview she breaks the rules and is over reactive to lector. But she puts forth a performance that has defiantely made her career. I would go into Buffalo Bill but i will waste no more time. But i will say that, if you did not know bill is based of killer Ed Gein, rent the movie and even read about him on the fbi website. And my last comment is about Jonathan Demme. Brilliant, completly brilliant. His first major film and look what he did. He does a great job of presenting the movie. The effects and colors he used. Sit back, relax and truely watch this film. I guarantee is better than you truly believe.