I am unsure about whether or not I want to go and see Red Dragon. I really enjoyed both the book and the movie “Silence of the Lambs”, but only read “Hannibal”. I really have a problem with movies that are going to be THAT gory and disturbing.
Ao, I turn to you, fellow dopers, I have seen “Manhunter” but it didn’t seem that bad, I am worried about what today’s Hollywood will come up with. I have more than enough fodder for my nightmares without allowing movies to add to it.
So come on, tell me, what did YOU think of it, was it REALLY bad?
And if I could add a follow-up question: I really want to see this movie, but I refuse to see any movie featuring animal cruelty. Was there any in this film? I remember some from the book, and it kind of turned me off from what was otherwise a wonderful story. Thanks.
So, burning a human being alive is OK with you, so long as no little cats and dogs get hurt? Your nobility is an inspiration for us all.
The original movie was pretty good, called Manhunter. Get the director’s cut, if you can. The guy who plays Grissom on CSI was the protagonist. And the psychotic serial killer turns out to be a better first date than I am.
I may be the only person in the world who feels this way, but I thought Brian Cox was better as Hannibal Lecter in the first movie than Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. I didn’t see Hannibal.
Oh, please, Trisky!! Stop trying to put words into my mouth. Everyone has their pet peeves in movies, and this is mine. YMMV. Now if you would kindly lose the self-righteousness and get off the soap box, it’s my turn to pontificate:
Actually, I loved Brian Cox as Lecter. Hopkins did all right in SOTL, but his pretentious cannibal bit is getting old and campy. Cox played the part straight and came off creepy as hell. You’re right about no one appreciating it, though. Most people I’ve talked to didn’t even know there was a prequel to SOTL until the trailers for this movie came out.
I’m not going to pretend to be a decent,moral person.
But animal cruelty really just unsettles me,torturing and disembowling humans is fine though.
I can watch anything being done to a human(ogrish.com anyone?)but when it is a little kitty or dog i just can’t take it.
I mean i couldn’t have been the only one who when watching American Psycho cringed when he picked up the cat and sighed with relief when he shot the old woman instead.
I don’t remember any animal cruelty portrayed…if there was any, it certainly must not have made an impact on me.
There certainly are a few bloody/gory scenes, but not as many as you might expect. There is one exceptionally bloody scene which might gross you out, a few quite violent scenes with some blood, and a couple gory scenes with no action but are still somewhat disturbing…but other than that, it’s not too bad…
As they seem hell-bent on ruining the Lecter character by making Anthony Hopkins into Yet Another Blithering Freaky Crazy Person, I’m going to agree that Cox was the better Lecter.
I’m seeing Red Dragon tonight with mixed feelings. On one hand, I like the Lecter character a lot, and enjoyed SOTL and Manhunter. On the other hand, I hated Hannibal with a deep, unparalleled passion, and Ed Norton isn’t working as Graham for me. (I envisioned someone who looked cooler and had a deeper voice.) Guess I’ll just have to see it and see which way it rubs me.
Good indication that “Red Ragon” isn’t any good: when you see the TV commercials and newspaper ads, note which critics get quoted.
It’s all TV critics!
That means they couldn’t get any well-known or reputable critics to give them a rave review, and to get “the greatest thriller I’ve ever seen” blurbs, they had to settle for Joe Blow from WDUH-TV in Bayonne New Jersey.
I saw a sneak preview of Red Dragon Tuesday night. I was pleasantly surprised–I was all set to hate it but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.
No animal cruelty but quite a bit of human being cruelty. There were no excessively gory scenes, the camera cut away before the really icky stuff, but there’s just enough blood, gore and screaming to fill in the blanks in your mind quite effectively.
I thought Edward Norton did a passable job and Ralph Fiennes was great, although he is nothing like the image in my head I have from reading the book.
Only two things really bothered me overall. One, Anthony Hopkins is now beginning to overplay Lecter, IMHO. In some parts of the movie, I felt I was watching Anthony Hopkins doing a parody of Lecter doing a parody of himself.
The other thing that bothered me is that Mary Stuart Masterson, playing Ed Norton’s wife, looked half-asleep or drugged out in most of her scenes. Every time she appeared on screen, she’d jar me right out of the movie.
Bottom line–great movie but I think Manhunter was better in some ways.
Oh, and I will NEVER look at Super Glue the same way again. shudder
All I have to say is…Ralph Fiennes is going to have to pull a miracle out of his butt to make me forget Tom Noonan as Francis Dolorhyde. He had just the right mix of menace and sympathy.
And, how is Ed Norton going to top William B. Petersen as Will Graham? I just don’t see it happening.
None of the actors in this one topped the original movie’s actors, IMO.
I thought Ralph Fiennes’ performance was the best in the movie. Hopkins’ Lecter wasn’t as crazy and uncharacteristically Lecter as he was in Hannibal, thankfully, but he wasn’t as good as he was in SOTL. Ed Norton was okay as Graham, although I didn’t think they gave his character enough personality. Harvey Keitel as Jack Crawford was also okay, but I liked Scott Glenn’s look and mannerisms better. Anthony Heald was Dr. Chilton again, and the guy that played Barney looked like the same guy they used in previous movies. Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Lounds was all right, but I had someone greasier in mind.
I thought they did Reba and Francis’ relationship nicely. Also, if I remember the book correctly, Molly gave Graham more crap over Lecter giving Dolarhyde their address and putting them in danger. I’m glad they left that out of the movie.
I too expected to hate the movie, but I didn’t. They kept pretty faithful to the book. Some minor details were silly, but it could have been a lot worse.
Saw it last night. Keep in mind I haven’t read Red Dragon and I saw Manhunter once about 7 years ago when I was half asleep…
I really liked it, too. It’s worth seeing in the theatre. I thought Fiennes did a good job. However, some of the “no, you can’t have her…” dialogue with the dragon was kind of silly and contrived to me. He would have come off a much bigger crazy badass without all that, IMO. My sister says that came from the book, so I guess if it is sticking to the original storyline, I can’t begrudge it too much.
None of the actors really hit me as doing poorly. Keitel, Norton, and Hopkins were fine. It didn’t strike me that Hannibal was becoming a parody of himself when I watched the movie, but thinking about it now I guess I can see it. In any case, I thought he was good, what you would expect.
Also, we a thread about this right after Hannial came out: Were people laughing at really inappropriate times during this movie? For instance, when he clocked that lady in the museum right before he began eating the painting…Half the theatre started laughing. It didn’t bother me, but I do find it curious. The last movie I remember noticing that happening in is Hannibal.
Get the book. Dolarhydes backstory is much more intriguing than the action. It wasnt adressed in Manhunter, and from what Ive heard was given short shrift in Red Dragon. Dolarhyde does kill a few pets, but it wasnt portrayed in the book or in Manhunter.
Funniest cite I heard (paraphrased): Ebert gave it a thumbs up, Movieline gave it the finger.
GreyWolf73, Mary-Louise Parker, not Mary Stuart Masterson plays Grahams wife.
I thought it was decent, a million times better then the horrid Psycho remake.
I thought there were 2 very good visual images in the film:
The scene where Graham stands at the top of the stairs in his house listening for Dolerhyde.
The scene showing Dolerhyse backlit by the flames in his house.
Am I the only one who thinks that Phillip-Seymour Hoffman is way too pretentious and smug and full of himself? I got that feeling in this movie, I got it in Scent Of A Woman, Almost Famous, The Talented Mr. Ripley.
I was interesting how much dialogue was directly lifted from Manhunter.
I thought it was a little too cutesy how they had the direct leadin to SotL’s in the final scene with Lector and Chilton.
I would advise seeing it as a matinee, not at full price.
As for Dolerhyde’s backstory, they gave it, in a quasi-flashback-that-isn’t-really-a-flashback-kind-of-way.
I thought the scene with the tiger was WAY cool, especially the noises the tiger made.
Nobody’s mentioned her so I’ll say that I thought Emily Watson did a really good job as Reba.
I liked the movie a lot but all of the other characters were more interesting than Hannibal to me. I haven’t seen Manhunter or read the book but can somebody tell me if that bloody face that Reba felt after the house was on fire was Dolarhyde or was that the body of that one guy that she went out with (Peter) that Dolarhyde said was upstairs.
