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 As
Clarice – the ultimate goody-two-shoes by the book FBI agent
– deals with disciplinary problems that have been foisted on
her through a set-up, Lecter must dodge trouble in Italy, which
he does in his usual brutally stylish manner. Naturally, Lecter
and Clarice must meet again, so the story takes the requisite twists
and turns on its way to a gory resolution.
The archetypal caricatures are straightforward – Lecter as the
Angel of Death who comes looking for the avaricious, Clarice as
the embodiment of honesty and goodness, and Lecter’s various victims
and pursuers as those who are impure and filled with avarice. Lecter
and Clarice are in conflict, but his hideous attacks aren’t aimed
at her, but at the uncouth and greedy people that surround them
– among both cops and criminals.
 For
the most part, the twists and turns these folks take in Hannibal
are neither creepy nor fascinating, and if a monster like Hannibal
Lecter isn’t creepy and fascinating, then a movie about him simply
isn’t going to succeed. He dodges about in the shadows, tossing
off smarty-pants psychotic bon mots on the fly, generating a few
moments of good fun. But more often, we’re watching Clarice or someone
else sitting at a computer with furrowed brow, sorting out who’s
doing what to whom and where. It’s just not particularly gripping.
The problem isn’t Hopkins, who is dependably creepy, nor Moore,
whoplays Clarice just right. The problem is the storyline dragging
too much in the middle and rarely creating the tension it needs.
Scott tries to make up for this by ending with a bang, and for the
film’s climax, he certainly pulls out all the stops (in addition
to Ray Liotta’s skull). Grotesque it is. But the gross-out ending
– however blood-curdling – doesn’t compensate for the hour and a
half of boredom that precedes it.
Overall Rating: 
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