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While watching this film it occurs to me that when a film franchise resorts to a prequel that basically there really doesn’t seem to be much left to be said about that certain character. It was true in the last TEXAS CHAINSAW film and it is equally as true with HANNIBAL RISING.
I do have to admit though that I was pleasantly surprised with how good this film looked. It is basically a period piece telling the story of the early years of Hannibal Lecter. We meet with him and his family in the 1940's as they are evacuating Lecter castle ahead of the approaching Nazi forces. The family hides out in a servant quarters deep on the Lecter property but are eventually discovered. Mom and dad are killed leaving young Hannibal and his younger sister alone to fend for themselves. It isn’t long till a band of Russian soldiers happen upon the house and discover the young children and proceed to take advantage of the quarters and help themselves to the storage of food and water that the young pair were using. Winter sets in and things start to get desperate. Very desperate. So bad that some very bad things happen that I will let you watch for yourself to contemplate. Needless to say these things form the twisted mind of the Hannibal that we all know from previous films.
Hannibal ends up surviving the ordeal and moves in with his uncle and very beautiful wife and starts planning revenge on the son of a bitches that turned his world upside down. Hannibal proves to be a very patient man and while educating himself in the best schools in the world never lets the events of his childhood fall far from the front of his mind. As you can probably guess by films end revenge is served up and we get a very clear picture of just exactly what Hannibal is and what he will become.
As a horror film, it is pretty tame fare but as a period drama it’s actually very good. Folks picking this one up to see and hear more witty Hannibal bantering will be sadly disappointed but if you go into this one with an open mind and forget about the previous films in the franchise you should be able to enjoy this well made, well acted project.
Comparing it to Silence of the Lambs or even Red Dragon is not fair. This film has a “Band of Brothers” or “Saving Private Ryan” feel to it not in content but in look and feel. HANNIBAL RISING is about family, it is about surviving war and eventually about descending into madness.
If this film would have been released as a stand along drama and not as part of a franchise I think it would have fared much better at the box office. Folks came into the theater expecting “fava beans and a nice chianti” and instead got a poignant and disturbing look at what happens when a brilliant young man loses control of his sense of right or wrong.
Keep your mind open and forget that this film is about Hannibal Lecter and you’ll enjoy it.
The film is being release in an UNRATED version but having not seen the film in theaters I don’t ‘really know what was added. Based on what I watched they couldn’t have added much, really not much blood in ths one.
A good film but not a particularly good addition of the Hannibal legacy.
You can pick this one up on Tuesday May 29th.
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