Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13394 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-08-20
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Italian, Japanese
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 126 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Yes, he's back ... and he's still hungry. Hannibal is set 10 years after The Silence of the Lambs, as Dr Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins, reprising his Oscar-winning role) is living the good life in Italy, studying art and sipping espresso. FBI agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore, replacing Jodie Foster), on the other hand, hasn't had it so good--an outsider from the start, she's now a quiet, moody loner who doesn't play bureaucratic games and suffers for it. A botched drug raid results in her demotion--and a request from Lecter's only living victim, Mason Verger (Gary Oldman, uncredited), for a little Q and A. Little does Clarice realise that the hideously deformed Verger--who, upon suggestion from Dr Lecter, peeled off his own face--is using her as bait to lure Dr Lecter out of hiding, quite certain he'll capture the good doctor.

Taking the basic plot contraptions from Thomas Harris's baroque novel, Hannibal is so stylistically different from its predecessor that it forces you to take it on its own terms. Director Ridley Scott gives the film a sleek, almost European look that lets you know that, unlike the first film (which was about the quintessentially American Clarice), this movie is all Hannibal. Does it work? Yes--but only up to a point. Scott adeptly sets up an atmosphere of foreboding, but it's all a build-up to the anticlimax, as Verger's plot for abducting Hannibal (and feeding him to man-eating wild boars) doesn't really deliver the requisite visceral thrills, and the much-ballyhooed climatic dinner sequence between Clarice, Dr Lecter and a third, unlucky guest wobbles between parody and horror. Hopkins and Moore are both first-rate, but the film contrives to keep them as far apart as possible, when what made Silence of the Lambs so amazing was their interaction. When they do connect it's quite thrilling but it's unfortunately too little too late. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

On the DVD: The good-looking widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic print is accompanied by a directorial commentary on the first disc. Ridley Scott is no stranger to DVD commentaries by now, and keeps up a pretty constant flow of enjoyable story exposition, although provides few specifics about the actual filmmaking process. He's obviously more than happy to talk about this movie, since on the second disc there are also "Ridleygram" interviews with Scott about the process of storyboarding and a huge chunk of deleted or alternate scenes (including the alternate ending) with optional directorial commentary. There's a wealth of other extras to dip into, including five "making-of" featurettes (73 minutes in all), plus two multi-angle "vignettes" of the film's opening sequences (the fish-market shoot-out and opening titles), and a marketing gallery of trailers, stills and artwork. Surround-sound enthusiasts can select either Dolby 5.1 or DTS soundtracks for the main feature. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Five Featurettes--Breaking the Silence: The Making of "Hannibal"
1. Development--A look at the initial set-up of the feature
2. Production--On the set during filming
3. Special Make-up Effects--Watch Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins and Ray Liotta get transformed to on-screen monsters
4. Music--A look at the creation of the score
5. Premiere & Conclusion--Live footage from the premiere with the stars, cast and crew

Three Multi-Angle Featurettes:
1. Anatomy of a Shoot-Out--"The Fish-Market" action scene
2. Ridleygrams--The art of storyboarding with Ridley Scott exclusive interview
3. Opening Title Design Exploration

13 Deleted Scenes
Never-Before-Seen Alternate Ending
Theatrical Trailer
Teaser Trailer
TV Spots (11 x 30 seconds; 8 x 15 seconds)
Marketing Gallery--Photo gallery (rare production stills, 700 pages approx); never-before-seen posters
Animated Menus
5.1 Audio

Synopsis
After a decade in abeyance, the courtly cannibal, Hannibal Lecter, returns to the screen, again played by Anthony Hopkins, under the direction of Ridley Scott. When F.B.I. Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) is blamed for a botched drug bust, her boss Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) makes a media circus of her humiliation, which catches the attention of Lecter. Now a hardened veteran, she begins receiving letters from the twisted genius, who remains obsessed with her. Yet she's not the only one interested in drawing out the psychopath, now lecturing on the Renaissance in Florence. Italian detective Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini) hopes to impress his young wife by nailing the reward for his capture, and wealthy pedophile Mason Verger (Gary Oldman) is eager to take revenge against the cannibal for leaving him with a hideously deformed face. But they're no match for Hannibal's coyly satanic ubiquity, which bewilders his quickly narcotized foes before he administers a punishment sufficiently grotesque to suit his sense of amusement.The odious Krendler, in particular, learns to use his gray matter for, perhaps, the first time in his life. However, all is prologue to his fated rendezvous with Clarice. A banquet for the splatterati, reveling as it does in gore and dismemberment, the film features brilliant work by a stellar cast, and the kind of meticulous art direction and lushly magnificent photography that one has come to expect of Scott.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant as a film!
I thought this film was great as a film. Compared to the book? Not so good. If you enjoy the book then you will probably not enjoy the film as much. It does follow the book in some ways but the ending is completely different and in my opinion not as good.
The performance Anthony Hopkins puts in as Hannibal Lecter is fantastic as always and although Julianne Moore plays the part of Clarice Starling well I think it would have been better to use Jodie Foster.
If you can watch it as just a film without comparing it to the books then I would highly recommend it.

The Very Definition of "Gratuitous Violence."
"Hannibal" is about as subtle as a brick through a stained glass window.

It is nothing but a gratuitous 'Paint by Corpses' demonstration of what Hannibal Lecter is capable of, for anyone who was either too lazy or too stupid to understand "The Silence of the Lambs."

It's a 'slasher film' for anyone who want's to SEE the graphic violence for whch he was imprisoned. The plot is clearly signposted, the 'twists' (if there are any) are as plain as the nose on your face. But if you actually want to watch a man being foribly fed parts of his own brain, then please be my guest.

Gets better with each viewing
In this film, the character of Hannibal Lecter reveals more about possibly his most interesting characteristic, his cultured and refined tastes than in any of the other films. His loathing of ill manners and his love of classical opera and art are interesting to behold and form a juxtaposition to his darker side. He shows again that he is a consumate killer and possesses an ability to pre-empt the moves of his enemies. In the hands of a lesser actor, this mix may not have been pulled off with qiuite so much success but Hopkins does it very well indeed.

Possibly one of the most memorable aspects of this film is the score. The music in the film is exquisite with many of the large scale operatic pieces being written for this film directly.

When I first saw this film, I was dissapointed as following Hannibal's escape in Silence of the Lambs, I expected that he might go on a killing spree in this film. To expect this is to underestimate the intelligence of the character. He is not the seedy opportunist slasher in the mould of Michael Myers, he is a man who loves the exotic fragrances of the best perfume houses of Paris, the views of the Duomo in Florence, the taste of fine food and wine. The benefit of seeing the film a few times and of age have revealed that upon escape, Hannibal would have sought out safety abroad, create a new identity for himself and generally keep a low profile so that he can indulge in his passions. It is only when he is challenged and cornered or exacts revenge for ill manners shown to Clarice that his darker side for which he is more notorious emerges.

The film gets better with every viewing. The cinematography and direction is first rate as one would expect from Ridley Scott and all these factors combine to make Hannibal an extremely worthy film.