Hannibal Rising (2007)

Directed by: Peter Webber

Screenplay and novel by: Thomas Harris

After the death of his parents during World War II, young Hannibal Lecter moves in with his beautiful aunt and begins plotting revenge on the barbarians responsible for his sister's death.

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I've been wanting to see Silence of the Lambs and all the other movies again, but I decided to start with Hannibal Rising. Not because of chronological order, but mostly because Hannibal Rising feels so separate from them all. Mostly because Hannibal Lecter in this movie doesn't seem like Hannibal Lecter at all. That's mostly because in Silence of the Lambs (if I recall correctly) Starling asked Lecter why he is the way he is, what happened to him. Lecter replies with "Nothing happened to me. I happened." So everything that Hannibal Rising kind of nullifies that answer completely, thus changing Lecter's character far too much in my taste.

This is why I wanted to watch this movie separately, to distance it from the others. It's more like a film about someone else named Hannibal Lecter than the same person. 

You can see Thomas Harris's skillful writing in the way how history is very present in the story. Not just as in "Harris definitely did his research" but like the war is present in everyone's and it comes up a lot, but that feels natural instead of like throwing in tragic backstories for everyone. But also there's less skillful writing present, inconsistencies in Hannibal's nature. Manners and respect are always important to Hannibal, and he murders a man just because he was rude to lady Murasaki, but he still kind of respects lady Murasaki's ancestors by using their sword, even though lady Murasaki explains she can only touch it once a year to clean it. So where's the line?

Even if Hannibal in this movie doesn't feel like Hannibal, Gaspard Ulliel still makes an excellent performance. He has clearly watched sir Anthony Hopkins closely to get the same kind of manners, but also he's talented enough to not get too concerned with sir Hopkins' iconic portrayal. 

There's also something about the pace of the movie I don't like, mostly because of the beginning and Hannibal and Mischa as kids, however I'm not certain how I would fix that. 

Visually of course this movie is stunning, and they aren't too frugal with the amount of blood and gore. Violence feels more present in the other movies compared to this one. 

Hannibal Rising is a decent movie, and it could be good, but it feels all too distant compared to all the others. Something is missing, yet there's something new and intriguing. That would be good if it really felt the same.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

6 / 10