Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): DON'T believe it every time they say "director's cut" . This is Michael (LAST OF THE MOHICANS, HEAT, THE INSIDER) Mann's far superior, first film adaptation of Thomas Harris' RED DRAGON. It's superb. Creepy, tense, edgy, slick when you don't expect to be, and genuinely even-handed about the story's anti-hero Will Graham and the supposed monster Francis Dolarhyde (portrayed as no less a human than the cops who pursue him), MANHUNTER is a artfully crafted thriller that stands apart from the other "Hannibal the Cannibal" films. I also far prefer Brian Cox as Lektor, he gets under your skin without making an incision, while Anthony Hopkins splattered the screen with patent medecine ookiness.    That said.... I was very disappointed when I rented this particular set. The second, "director's cut" version is clearly a pre-release work print, with lower grade titles and dubbing, and a final scene of Graham visiting near-victim family #3 that is just terrible.     The first disc is the release version, and though it restores a few scenes which were snipped from the VHS cut, a quick line from the scene in which Graham figures out how Dolarhyde is picking his victims is "missing." ("As a child my heart bleeds for him ... as an adult ... slaughters whole families for selfish, trivial ends. ... Are you uncomfortable with this kind of understanding?") Whether it really needs to be in the scene is arguable. Mann may've removed it from the final version for good reasons. He sneers at his friend and former colleague, Crawford. Alienates him. It's a false climax in a scene when the REAL climax is the storeroom guard (on the phone) confirming Graham's breakthrough discovery about the mountain of forensic evidence.     Other than that, the first disc is superbly transferred. If you've only seen this on tape, the clarity and color saturation of the original film will amaze you. Save your pennies, buy the "release version" single disc release, and let Canal/Anchor Bay learn that mis-labled "director's cuts" just won't sell.
Output (English): NEG