# Hannibal - read or watch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339 "2005-01-24T01:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/1 "2005-01-24T01:20:57Z")
Which is better, the movie or the book? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/2 "2005-01-24T01:45:51Z")
The book. Definitely the book. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/3 "2005-01-24T01:53:47Z")
I second that. The book was excellent. By far better than the movie. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/4 "2005-01-24T01:57:06Z")
Not to spoil it, but the book has an ending I just **knew** they wouldn’t dare use in a movie. And, just as I expected, they wussed out. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![shadowfax33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@shadowfax33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shadowfax33)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/5 "2005-01-24T01:58:03Z")
Re-read or re-watch “Silence of the Lambs,” or even “Red Dragon.” You’ll be a happier person. Steer clear of “Hannibal.” Just my 2 cents. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/6 "2005-01-24T02:13:51Z")
When is the movie ever better than the book? ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/7 "2005-01-24T02:49:48Z")
> [@shadowfax33](#): > > Re-read or re-watch “Silence of the Lambs,” or even “Red Dragon.” You’ll be a happier person. Steer clear of “Hannibal.” > > Just my 2 cents. 🙂 Are you referring to the original or the remake of “Red Dragon”? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/8 "2005-01-24T03:01:02Z")
Ugh. Avoid both. And then drive to Thomas Harris’ place and smack him upside the head. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/9 "2005-01-24T03:45:01Z")
I liked both, but I am apparently the only person in the world who can watch both a movie and read the book version and rate them on their own merits. :rolleyes: Though you can put me down as someone who liked Godfather as a book and thought the movie sucks donky cock. And I like the book and both versions of the Shining… ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/10 "2005-01-24T06:50:00Z")
Thanks for the replies. > [@](#): > > When is the movie ever better than the book? When the music is better than the story, as in A Clockwork Orange. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/11 "2005-01-24T07:10:26Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > When is the movie ever better than the book? Forrest Gump - Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/12 "2005-01-24T07:36:18Z")
Much of the book is unfilmable, such as the scenes from Hannibal’s childhood and the concept of his ‘Memory Palace’. (I think both of those are sufficiently vague as to not need spoilers.) Do see the movie after you read the book, though, because the scenes filmed in Florence are beautiful and the acting all around is good. Gary Oldman is just a tad over the top but it would be hard not to be with that make-up job. (You won’t believe some of the characters they cut out, and then again the ending is 180 degrees different.) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/13 "2005-01-24T09:32:34Z")
They are both so different- if you enjoyed the books & films in the series, go ahead & give them both a try. I liked them both on their own standards- I knew the movie ending would be different, but I was disappointed that Mason Verger’s (Gary Oldman) sister was cut from the movie. Btw, sometime this year, Harris is publishing BEHIND THE MASK, a novel supposedly about Hannibal as a young man. ---
**Author:** ![todd33rpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@todd33rpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/todd33rpm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/14 "2005-01-24T10:18:01Z")
Haven’t read the book, and haven’t seen the DVD version of the movie. Don’t know if they fixed this, but when I saw it in the cinema, I laughed…_a lot_…at what was supposed to be one of the most intense scenes. It had been filmed in such a way that the boom mike was visible throughout. It really does mute the gasp of terror/revulsion when you see the man behind the curtain working the controls. That kinda blew the movie for me big time, and I expected a hell of a lot better work from Ridley Scott (or whoever botched it in editing). I’m hoping the book is better, because I felt the film was handled pretty clumsily…even minus the technical gaffe, I couldn’t quite buy into it. Could be that I really never completely accepted Julianne Moore in her role (and I like her work, FWIW). ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/15 "2005-01-24T10:18:20Z")
Another vote for ‘read the novel, skip the movie’. I get the feeling that Harris had planned for the series to end with SOTL, but it was so successful that he couldn’t say no when they drove a dump truck full of money up in front of his house. Still, _Hannibal_ is inspired, and as well-executed as possible. I remember when it came out, Harris said on his website that he took around 3000 days to write it – it ain’t no potboiler. The ending is indeed very thought-provoking, too much so for any big Hollywood rendition. (But, IMO, the movie really wimped out, more so than they needed to). Maybe _Hannibal_ would have been better filmed as a small-budget indie? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/16 "2005-01-24T12:59:53Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Ugh. Avoid both. And then drive to Thomas Harris’ place and smack him upside the head. Then kick him in the butt. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/17 "2005-01-24T13:56:38Z")
> [@todd33rpm](#): > > Haven’t read the book, and haven’t seen the DVD version of the movie. Don’t know if they fixed this, but when I saw it in the cinema, I laughed…_a lot_…at what was supposed to be one of the most intense scenes. > > It had been filmed in such a way that the boom mike was visible throughout. > > It really does mute the gasp of terror/revulsion when you see the man behind the curtain working the controls. That kinda blew the movie for me big time, and I expected a hell of a lot better work from Ridley Scott (or whoever botched it in editing). 90% of the time when that happens it’s the projectionist’s fault, not the director, editor, or cinematographer’s. The top and bottom of a movie is cut off by the projector. The director knows this, so those portions will often contain boom mikes, light cords, the top of the set, etc., when shooting around them would be difficult, or the performance was so good that reshooting or using another take wouldn’t be preferable. Then some minimum-wage mulitplex employee sets up the film wrong and makes everyone creatively involved in the thing look stupid. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/18 "2005-01-24T14:26:59Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Btw, sometime this year, Harris is publishing BEHIND THE MASK, a novel supposedly about Hannibal as a young man. I look forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/19 "2005-01-24T14:42:37Z")
> [@todd33rpm](#): > > \ when I saw it in the cinema, I laughed…_a lot_…at what was supposed to be one of the most intense scenes. Well, when I saw it the whole theater kept laughing even though we DIDN’T see the boom, because it was so over the top ridiculous. And how the heck did the Gary Oldman character manage to import those huge threatening looking man-eating hogs into the country? “Oh, yes, Mr. Customs Officer, those are REALLY FRIENDLY swine. No, really, they just want to play. Coochie-coo.” I must admit that I didn’t like the book any better. Then again, I read it after seeing the movie, so maybe I was biased. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/20 "2005-01-24T14:46:11Z")
Einmon, W/o revealing your spoiler, the answer is that Verger was wealthy and had any number of government employees in his pocket. That was well established in both book and movie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339.md?page=2)