Hannibal is blessed with one of the better setups in movie
history. Anthony Hopkins was so terrifying in Silence of the
Lambs, that movie left us wondering for ten years: what would
happen if Clarice and Hannibal ever squared off? Yikes, now there's
truly harrowing thought.
Alas, Hannibal also suffers the curse of having to live up to it's classic, Oscar-sweeping predecessor. Those are mighty big shoes to fill.
For awhile, it does! They successfully reestablish Hannibal Lecter as a true nightmare to be reckoned with, with his fearsome cunning and his dazzling intellect. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the movie for two strong reasons. One: I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. Two: whatever it was, I was really dreading it! Julianne Moore was doing well as a tough, but still vulnerable, Clarice Starling, and they introduced another wonderful character.
Billionaire Mason Verger is Dr. Lecter's only surviving victim. Hideously deformed by his ordeal, Mr. Verger is very keen on revenge, and his depravity actually surpasses that of Hannibal's! We could have a show-stealer here, folks, and who better to do it than the incomparable Gary Oldman? Mason Verger added a ton of creepiness to this film, and is not likely to be forgotten soon.
Unfortunately, halfway through the movie, something terrible happened: I lost my dread of Hannibal Lecter. Worse still, I was starting to sense what would happen next. (Oh, no! We don't want that!) The twists I couldn't predict were so preposterous, they held little in the way of shock value.
The deal with Hannibal is, he only really wants to kill people he finds to be rude, arrogant and/ or tiresome. As soon as this is made clear, the movie starts neatly highlighting his victims-to-be by making their behavior a little extra (you guessed it) arrogant. In the process, not only do they spoil the surprise, they also spoil most of the precious dread, as we begin to care less and less for the people who are obviously lining up to "get it".
The treacherous relationship between agent Starling and Dr. Lecter becomes less fascinating as she becomes less of an angel fish and he less a barracuda. Hannibal becomes a bit of a lame protagonist as Starling's FBI bosses are reduced to B-movie caricatures, and by this time, very little of their association rings true.
Hannibal suffers from a classic case of Hollywood script premature ejaculation. As the tension and suspense are spoiled, they overcompensate with an increasingly ridiculous series of contrived events.
As disappointing as the supposed "climax" is, the second half does have a few good gross-outs, if that's what floats your boat. This movie should be rated R for violence, profanity and scenes of explicit cannibalism. (It's not quite the appetite suppressant The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover was but it'll still raise your eyebrows.)
Even if Hannibal will never be the achievement Silence of the Lambs was, I can still marginally recommend it for the first half, and for Mason Verger. It's quite an event to behold: Gary Oldman stealing thunder from Sir Anthony Hopkins, and in his signature role at that!