Good, but inferior to Se7en

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2004)

Hannibal Lecter. The name that will spark interest, gain recognition, and most likely send a chill down your spine. He's one of the most interesting and well-known fictional serial killers, and this is probably the movie that manages to do him most justice. Anthony Hopkins as the serial killer, psychiatrist and cannibal was a great casting decision. He definitely performed the role as perfectly as it could be done. However, when it comes to the overall quality of the film, it just doesn't entirely measure up. The plot is good, and evolves at a pretty good pace; however, I couldn't manage to sit through the entire thing... I only barely made it, half-attentive, through the first 45 minutes. I couldn't even sit through more than 3/8's of the movie, let alone the whole thing. Now, this may be because I've seen it many times in the past years, but usually, when I can't sit through a movie because I have seen it before, it's due to my remembering most of the key parts of the movie, and not being surprised by it... but not this movie; I can say, in entire honesty, that I didn't remember or even recognize any of the film, despite having seen it plenty of times before, about one time a year. If I remember anything from a movie, that I haven't seen for a long time, it's because it had an impact on me; for example, I still haven't forgotten the twist of the famous Hitchcock horror-thriller, Vertigo, despite the fact that I've seen it once, and that was about five years ago. Nothing in this movie had an impact on me, nothing affected me deeply. Maybe I'm hard to impress, maybe I am too hardened by worse films... but still. The film involves sick and disturbing characters and actions; it should have an impact on the viewer. Maybe I'm not smart enough to get it; maybe I keep expecting the film to be very different from what it was... I don't know. I just didn't find this film as good as it has been made out to be. The acting is very good; Hopkins nails the role of Lecter perfectly. Foster is good, too. Both portray their roles convincingly, and make their characters and their actions credible. The characters are well-written, credible and, well, colorful. Buffalo Bill makes a great villain, very psychotic and disturbing. Levine also gives a very good performance. All in all, a pretty good horror-thriller, but inferior to Se7en(arguably the best of the genre), and only enjoyable for people who can appreciate the psychological aspects of the film(which I guess I can't). I recommend it exclusively to people who can enjoy a very psychological thriller-horror piece. 8/10