Review: ‘Hannibal Rising’ director capable of better

Directed By: Peter Webber

Starring: Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li, Rhys Ifans, Dominic West, Kevin McKidd, Richard Brake

Rated: R

It’s a funny culture, America 2007.

While society at large is appalled by the exploits of the Jeffrey Dahmers, John Wayne Gacys and Sons of Sam that have roamed the land, one of filmdom’s most beloved characters is a sociopathic, cannibalistic serial killer. This seems to prove that a great actor – in this case Anthony Hopkins – can make the audience sympathize with the most unpleasant character imaginable.

Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter first appeared – as a supporting character – in the 1981 novel “Red Dragon,” by Thomas Harris. In 1986, Michael Mann made a movie, “Manhunter,” based on that book. The Dino De Laurentiis Co., known for high budget schlock such as the 1976 “King Kong,” produced the film and had first refusal rights to any sequels.

Since “Manhunter” was somewhat of a flop, De Laurentiis passed on the 1991 Jonathan Demme film, “The Silence of the Lambs.” When “Lambs” went on to win the five major Oscar categories – actor, actress, director, screenplay and picture – De Laurentiis spent a decade in regret.

In 2001, much like the warped killers in cinema, De Laurentiis began enacting his slow, painful revenge on the movie-going public. “Hannibal” brought Hopkins back as Dr. Lecter, but Jodie Foster wisely bowed out and Julianne Moore played Agent Starling. A year later, De Laurentiis remade “Manhunter” as “Red Dragon.” Hopkins returned for a third time.

Hopkins finally had the grace and sense to bow out as De Laurentiis puts the final nail in the coffin of the franchise that Lecter built, with the laughably ludicrous “Hannibal Rising.” The story is a prequel and explains Lecter’s early years, when he enjoys a Census taker’s liver with a nice bottle of Chianti.

Young Hannibal

The story begins on the eastern front in World War II. The Lecter family – mom, dad, young Hannibal and little sister Mischa – are driven from their estate as the Nazis invade and the Soviets come in to “defend.” Hannibal and Mischa end up captives of a rather hungry platoon of Russian soldiers. The soldiers need nourishment, and they decide Mischa has pneumonia and is going to die anyway, so … . You get the picture. And so did Hannibal, who survives the war to end up in an orphanage after the conflict ends.

He rarely speaks but screams in his sleep and refuses to, as the warden says, “honor the human pecking order. You’re always hurting the bullies.”

He is thrown out into the cruel world and ends up with the wife of his well-to-do uncle who was killed in the war. Gong Li plays Lady Murasaki and her luminescence is one of the only reasons to sit through this film. The other is the beautiful cinematography of Ben Davis.

Auntie has a fortune and sends Hannibal to medical school. Before he’s off to the university, he defends Lady Murasaki’s honor by killing the boorish local butcher who insulted her in his shop. He also brings her the man’s head, which she accepts despite being horrified. This is the start of a fairly strange love affair.

Hannibal is focused not only on his studies but also on tracking down and exacting revenge on the former soldiers that devoured his little sister. Through an implausible plot device, he manages to get the dog tags the soldiers left behind after “the incident” and uses them to locate the men.

When he finds the first one, Hannibal extracts information on the whereabouts of the others then beheads the man and makes a little nosh of human cheeks and wild mushrooms.

Cat, mouse and cannibal game

The rest of the film is a cat, mouse and cannibal game between Lecter, the men of his nightmares and a detective who suspects the young man may be behind the bizarre series of murders.

The film might have been better had it not tried to associate itself with the Hannibal Lecter franchise. But no fan of the world’s most beloved cannibal is going to buy any of this back-story.

Li brings an air of class to the screen, even when spouting dialogue seemingly penned by a novice playwright, but all in all “Hannibal Rising” is dreck. Director Peter Webber is capable of so much more as he proved with “The Girl with the Pearl Earring.”

Let’s just hope De Laurentiis doesn’t continue down this path and decides to remake “The Silence of the Lambs.” If he does, he’s liable to be hunted down and devoured by an overzealous Hannibal Lecter fan.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.