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*** Official "HANNIBAL" Discussion Thread (2 Viewers)

David-alexander

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 28, 2001
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216
the ending has been edited on dvd (all dvds it seems) from some US theatrical cut and the European cuts ( the brain scene ).
there's a thread on the software forum for details (spoilers).
 

John Miles

Stunt Coordinator
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Jan 16, 2000
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236
It's worth noting that this is one of the best-looking DVDs on the market. Definitely a reference-grade transfer. Anyone who's sitting on the fence should go ahead and pick it up just for that reason.
 

Ken_McAlinden

Reviewer
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Feb 20, 2001
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6,241
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Livonia, MI USA
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Kenneth McAlinden
the ending has been edited on dvd (all dvds it seems) from some US theatrical cut and the European cuts ( the brain scene ).
The veracity of this is still a point of contention, as is being discussed in the Software Forum thread.
Regards,
------------------
Ken McAlinden
Livonia, MI USA
 

Scott A.

Agent
Joined
Jul 20, 1999
Messages
29
...I liked the Pazzi sequences in Italy more than the events in the US. It was a wonderful variation on the Pardoner's Tale where a character doggedly pursues his own demise.
It would have been an interesting choice if the filmmakers had chosen to do a film based solely on this part of the novel...
My thoughts exactly!
I thought the best part of the movie was the whole Pazzi subplot. It's unfortunate that with the direction the film took, much of it had to be left on the cutting room floor. Giancarlo Giannini did a great job, and this little part of Hannibal had great potential as a movie in it's own right.
IMHO,
S.
 

GaryM

Agent
Joined
Jul 19, 2000
Messages
41
I enjoyed Hannibal and give it three stars out of four. The Silence of the Lambs was of course better, few books and few films are so thought-provoking, and seldom have I been as chilled as when observing the depraved serial murderer Jame Gumb dancing about attired in the tanned hides of his female victims. For the record, I've read all of Thomas Harris's published novels. I wish the ending of the film Hannibal had been true to the book, because I believe that Harris was deliberately and conclusively putting an end to the Lecter saga.
Hollywood, however, is still in feeding frenzy. The film Manhunter is a decent adaption of the novel Red Dragon and doesn't need to be remade. We already have an oversupply of films and TV series about FBI criminal profilers, after all. The altered ending of the film Hannibal is a transparent enabling of a fourth film which will necessarily have no Harris content - it will be a pure Hollywood creation written by some screenwriter with no novel to establish the plot. I hope Hopkins/Moore/Foster/etc. have the good taste and good sense to stay out of the bad film.
Some series, such as the never-ending saga of James Bond, have their ups and downs but about one film in three is well made and worthy of the Ian Fleming source material. Other series appear to lapse into a kind of geometrical progressive decay where each subsequent film is half as good as the one before, I fear that this is such a case. I do not believe that a series based upon a monstrous arch-villian such as Hannibal Lecter could have anywhere near the sustained appeal of a heroic figure like Bond. And Lecter is the central figure in the last two books and movies, even if the Starling character gets more screen time, it is the bizzare arch-villian that holds our fascination. Lecter is a minor role in Red Dragon and Starling of course does not appear until the second novel.
Gary
[Edited last by GaryM on August 24, 2001 at 05:36 PM]
 

Phil O

Agent
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Jun 30, 1997
Messages
32
This movie was such a letdown from the first for myself. I saw it for the first time last night after watching the SOTL DVD. There was so much to take away from SOTL and so little to take away from Hannibal. Hannibal appears to have been made for two reasons with all other motivations non-existent: shock value and money. Maybe they all just wanted to get together with Anthony Hopkins too watch him consume the set in character. Whatever the reason....what a letdown.
*** Spoilers ahead ***
Maybe I snored(and snored loudly I might add) through the first half of Hannibal, but at the end of SOTL he was having an old friend for dinner...the guy from the dungeon. Did they make any reference as to what happened to that guy? If so, I didn't see it. I know it's 10 years later but...still. I think a flashback to a devouring of him would have been nice or at least resolve what happened to him. Did the book address it? Instead of 10 years down the road, I would have preferred picking up with Hannibal the next few weeks and going from there. Sure, it's been 10 years real time but movie time....next few weeks or so please.
Per the Ray Liotta "Man with Two Brains" scene, this one looks like it came straight from the Steve Martin movie. Twist the head cap off, expose the brain, cut the brain, fry the brain....while Ray is conscious no less. Completely absurd. The brain was even still talking....haha. Certainly, there could have been umpteen million better shock-value endings than that. If I had to guess, then I would say Ray had a partial frontal labotamy. Just screw his head cap back on and he's good to go...no problem. Sheesh. I'm sure it was fun to make but it was hardly as interesting to watch because it couldn't have been any lamer. So, he cooks an elaborate meal with brains. So what?
Maybe they should have named the movie Chef Hannibal if it was a cooking show? For some reason, Ray...in that brain scene...looked like his character from Goodfellas after being strung out on cocaine for a few weeks. I was just waiting for Joe Pesci to make his entrance and start with the "what's so f#*king funny?" bit.
Clarice....are we too believe she is so stupid as let Hannibal go from a possible hog devouring. She feels safe with a gun when this guy can just flat eat your face off in 10 seconds. I guess chalk that one up to her stupidity and her infatuation with him as the reasons she wanted to keep him alive.
Per Hannibal's 4th(?) victim, we're supposed to believe he willingly cut his own face off. Okay....no. I don't care what drugs he was on. No way. Then, we have to look at his ugly face half the movie...for what....you guessed it...shock value. He's so hell bent on revenge for cutting his own face off....he should have just killed himself and spared us from his pathetic story.
Per the detective, this man may have already had his brain cut out before the movie started. You've IDed Hannibal. So, what do you do? You get in his face at any possible moment, follow him around in plain view practically, show your fright in your facial expressions, and essentially beg to be hanged. The whole time he is looking over his shoulder like he knows he will be a victim. I assume he didn't really want the money or to stay alive. Moron.
Did anyone prefer the alternate ending over the ending they used? Are we supposed to believe that Hannibal would cut off his own hand instead of Clarice's? If so, why? Just because he is insane? Ho hum. Or maybe he was repaying the favor for her saving him. Or maybe he just was in love with her too much. I don't know...I don't get it. But, even if I'm insane, I think I know who's hands aren't coming off. Maybe they should have had him deep fry his hand and eat it as well just too make it even more ludicrous...if that is possible. I would have liked to see Jodie's hand cut off and Hannibal taking it with him. Then, maybe she could retire as she is too mistake prone anyway...except for the first movie of course. The hero becomes the lamb. Bahhhh.
Jodie Foster probably avoided this movie like the plague. Anthony Hopkins just doesn't care...he said so himself. It's all in good fun...you either like it or you don't. It's just a job to him. I have no problem with that attitude except when it comes to bad filmmaking. I guess he will just take any old script then? Sounds that way. The new Clarice Sterling had none of what Jodie brought to the role. She didn't have much to work with but...it appeared to me she was just going through the motions.
The one scene I probably enjoyed the most was Hannibal biting the nurse's face off at the hospital because she was asking for it(by being in his face). I can't say I exactly hated this movie but there was really not much for me to like...except for maybe some of the scenery. The rest was just mindless dribble. If they wanted to go from the movies into a comic book series, then they certainly have done that. When's the first comic coming out? I won't be buying it.
A prequel? Maybe they should just save us the anguish. I would like to pretend that ManHunter and SOTL are the only films with Lecter. I would rather see a remake of ManHunter using Anthony Hopkins than another new movie if it is going to be written so poorly and just for money/shock value. We knew the guy was shocking already. We knew some gore would make up the movie. What we didn't expect was for this to become mindless gore. If I wanted that, then I would watch Evil Dead again. It's hard to get into the Special Features of a movie I didn't like that much. I guess never wait 10 years to make a sequel...is what I learned from all this. In 10 years, you would think masterpiece. We got the opposite, instead.
Yeah...I'm a little disappointed. I really want to like this film but I'm finding that impossible.
Phil
 

Margo

Agent
Joined
May 13, 1999
Messages
48
Per the Ray Liotta "Man with Two Brains" scene, this one looks like it came straight from the Steve Martin movie. Twist the head cap off, expose the brain, cut the brain, fry the brain....while Ray is conscious no less. Completely absurd. The brain was even still talking....haha.
Actually... live seen real live footage of brain surgery patients awake with their skullcaps off relating various memories as certain parts of their brains are stimulated by metal probes. Hannibal is correct when he says that the brain doesn't have any pain nerve endings so there is no feeling as it's touched/etc. The dinner scene isn't that farfetched.
The only problem I had, other than the Italian cop just asking to get brutally murdered by messing with Hannibal, was Clarice not having the handcuffs on at the end as she's watching the boat in the water. If she had the keys it's difficult to imagine that she would have let him cut her hand off with the cleaver. After seeing the alternate ending I guess that's why I didn't see handcuffs. Interesting movie nonetheless.
 

Will_B

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2001
Messages
4,730
I haven't read the book (no plans to either) but at the refridgerator scene, when ***minor spoiler*** Clairice's hair is caught in the fridge, I thought she was going to have to tear her scalp off if she chose to get after Lecter... icky.
 
Joined
Dec 13, 1999
Messages
19
CAN'T HELP IT LOVE THIS FILM TO BITS, IT'S A VISUAL DELIGHT AND I LOVE THE WAY HANNIBAL'S CHARACTER IS CRAFTED AS A GOOD BAD GUY WHO ONLY DEVOURS THE RUDE, YOU CANT HELP FEEL YOU LIKE HIM BUT WONDER WHY. GLORIOUS DVD THAT IM PROUD TO HAVE IN MY COLLECTION AND I FEEL A FILM THAT SHOULD STAND ALONE NOT IN COMPARISON TO MANHUNTER OR SILENCE. AND AS FOR THE OPERA SCENE, SUPERB. WELL DONE RIDLEY.
 

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