Hugely enjoyable

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2006)

There is very little one can say about this film that hasn't been said many times already. It exploded on to the screen as a complete surprise, and fully deserved the extraordinary level of the plaudits it received.
It is not realistic, but do all films really have to be? The central character of Clarice Starling is easily recognisable as the modern career woman struggling with something to prove, played to perfection by Jodie Foster. But of course she is overshadowed by the entrancing performance of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. At once terrifying, fascinating and slightly surreal, he lurks in the mind long after the movie ends, even though his time on-screen makes up a relatively small proportion of the film, and it is worth seeing for him alone.
It is hard to say that the film would have scored the success it did without this mesmerising performance. But as so often with films which are dominated by one single aspect, the fact that you are made to look closely at it reveals a number of other qualities. Tension is admirably maintained, despite the far-fetched plot, and at times it is genuinely frightening, keeping you on the edge of your seat.
It's a thrilling ride; one which requires you at times to suspend your sense of reality and go where the director wants to take you. Hugely enjoyable and largely ridiculous, there is no such person as Hannibel Lecter. Or is there?