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Overall Rating : 6/10
Directed By : Peter Webber
Gaspard Ulliel
Helena Lia Tachovska
Richard Leaf (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
Li Gong (Memoirs of a Geisha)
Supplied By : The Weinstein Company
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : May. 29, 2007
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| PLOT After the death of his parents during World War II, young Hannibal Lecter moves in with his uncle and his beautiful wife and begins plotting revenge on the barbarians responsible for his sister's death. |
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| THE REVIEW The character of Hannibal Lecter which was made famous in films such as SILENCE OF THE LAMBS has his origin explained in the prequel HANNIBAL RISING. In the war torn country of Lithuania it is World War II. With the outside war between the Jews and Russians heavily raging around them, the Lecter family take refuge in their small isolated home. Soon the russian tanks rush in to take over the house, but are then caught within gunfire, this would killer the service men, as well as the Lecture parents, leaving their two children Hannibal and Mischa behind. Fending for themselves the two of them are all alone - that is until a group of starved vigilante war criminals make their way into what they thought to be an abandoned house. Discovering the children, they tie them up to hinder them from moving. The criminals, haggard and tired fear of dying of starvation, and as a result find themselves eating just about "anything" - and with the ever so sadistic suggestion of their leader Kolnas the group next would target the children to be their next meal. This would result in the slaying of young Hannibal's Sister Mischa, perhaps the one person he was ever closet to. Hannibal would grow up for 8 years in an orphanage, where the memory of his sister would haunt him as he sleeps, rendering him mute to everyone else. A violent incident with one of the bullies that teased him would see him ejected from the orphanage, and after that he would travel to France to Live with his Uncle. When he arrives he finds that a year ago his Uncle had died and his Aunt, Lady Murasaki, happens to be Hannibal's only relative left. Soon Hannibal and Murasaki grow a bond, and an incident with a Butcher at the market whom harassed Murasaki would only intensify a rage within Hannibal that was only hinted upon at the orphanage. Hannibal would later hunt down and kill the said Butcher and that further increases his hunt for revenge....and blood. Hannibal, long making a promise with his deceased little sister, sets out to hunt and kill each of the men that killed his Sister on that day in which he'll never forget. I'll admit, that before seeing HANNIBAL RISING, I wasn't nearly familiar with the character of Hannibal Lecter as I should be. Sure I had seen parts of the other three installments, but as of yet, I have never sat down and watched each in their entirety. So, I would say that HANNIBAL RISING was a good start for me, and for anyone just beginning their "Hannibal saga". The film begins with visions of war, war that I thought seemed realistic, the first thing a viewer realizes about HANNIBAL RISING, that it is one of those such films that pulls you into the action - you get the feeling you're there. We first witness the hell a young 8 year old Hannibal saw first hand as he saw his whole family die before his own eyes. The pace moves steadily along as we meet the teen Lecter that would be with us for the rest of the film. During the time we see that Hannibal really is nothing more than a troubled soul, but it is all of the bullying and his never ending nightmares that push him over the edge, he later would become a vicious serial killer, whom has seemed to have lost all of the heart he once had. I thought the filmmakers approached and told the story well, in a realistic fashion - I admit, that since i've always heard of the Hannibal character being so merciless that we'd get something over-redundant. But it wasn't the case as Hannibal is portrayed like a real-life killer and like any real killer he has a motive, a reason - Hannibal's reason? Revenge. And in this film we watch as he gets just that, each and every account of it and in such a strange way, I felt the killings were justified. The reason for this is that the relationship of young Hannibal at age 8 and his little sister around age 3-4 was so simply but meaningful developed that you developed feelings for the bound and which the two shared and to watch the criminals kill her was quite unsettling to me.... i'm glad they didn't show it any further than they had to. Overall as being a good prequel I couldn't be certain. As I explained, I have yet to really see the other films, but as for a film that introduces a "newbie" to the character, and possibly gets them interested in them, i'd say that HANNIBAL RISING does a great job of that. I thought the acting here was surprisingly above average, especially from Gaspard Ulliel as teenage Hannibal, Ulliel, may have not been spot-on with his portrayal, but he was close. He definitely had the perfect look for our would be killer, and delivered the lines naturally. Many other actors auditioned for the role, including Hayden Christensen and Macaulay Culkin. And thank god they weren't chosen, Macaulay Culkin, as Hannibal? The last thing i'd want to see is a Macaulay Culkin, screaming "ahhh!" with his hands on his face. ala HOME ALONE after killing someone....give me a break! I have to also give some applauds to the performance of Gong Li as Lady Murasaki. Gong Li is one of those people that has a smooth and soft screen presence but, let's not forget her versatility as at any second she can stab someone right in the throat if she has to. Ulliel and Li has a great chemistry, sure they're very different people, but it is also the relationship between Hannibal and Murasaki that keeps HANNIBAL RISING solid plot wise among other things. Overall, HANNIBAL RISING is a great beginning to the story of one of cinema's most well known villains - I enjoyed. One thing I didn't get was the whole samurai thing as far as it would really relate and interest Hannibal - but it did play up to the introduction of the kick ass mask that he wears, so i'm not really complaining too much! Other than that my only complaint is that I would've liked to have seen Hannibal's studies as a student doctor examined more.(maybe in the next movie? If there is one...). |
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| GORE
METER 5.5/10 Hannibal slices and dices his way to revenge in this flick! Multiple slashings, and beheadings, stabbings, a few mentions and visuals of cannibalism. But I really like the horse "tug-o-war kill", you could almost feel the pain! |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 The music featured in this film is more classical, but to tell the truth, it really gets drowned out by the story itself. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM The Unrated cut of HANNIBAL RISING is nearly 10 minutes longer than what was shown in theaters, with many omitted and trimmed scenes put back in. Making this film almost 2 hours and 10 minute runtime. Usually when a film is boring me to death, I am which to keep checking to see how much time is remaining,(especially with ones over 2 hours) but not once did I do that here. HANNIBAL RISING is a very complete story that introduces you nicely into the beginnings of a killer. The story sucks you in until the very end. I recommend! This DVD will be available May 29, 2007 |
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