Hannibal Rising

This film squeezes money out of an infamous brand, done in the monstrously unfair manner of a cheap TV adaptation, and lacking elegance and distinction. Instead, it shows Hannibal as a traumatized child who has been bewitched by a samurai in France and would like to take it out on his aunt. Thomas Harris on drugs, Marek Vašut with a knife in his throat, and we can announce R.I.P to Gaspard Ulliel, whose psychopathic look in his eyes suited him so well, knowing full well that he was closing his way out, even though he is an excellent actor. (03/04/2008)

An absolute mess-up of everything. Please don’t get mad, but I was so incredibly unamused by this movie that it also made me incredibly angry. It's not even a little bit suspenseful, all the scenes - war, "plot" (?) or murder - are filmed in such a way that you just can't get interested. The Hannibal character is a chapter in itself - an unsympathetic jerk who alternates between two expressions, i.e., wannabe angry and awkwardly broody. Plus, I don't understand, I really don't, that the script could have been written directly by Thomas Harris. The only thing that saved Hannibal Rising from being a waste was the music, which was co-written by my favorite madman, Ilan Eshkeri. Otherwise, yuck and gross. When the film is based on shots of bloody blades, disemboweled entrails and other scenes from a butcher shop, and when you see all that but still don't enjoy it... Something's wrong. (02/12/2009)

It's a shame to see such a prosaic and clichéd revenge story that has nothing to do with the famous character of Anthony Hopkins except perhaps the name. However, despite this shortcoming, Hannibal Rising is not entirely disposable. The minimalistic style is brilliant. The incredible cold scenes of the opening are followed by the colorful scenery of France. Everything is brilliantly lit and has a captivating atmosphere. The acting is average and the music is not particularly notable, but it’s still quite watchable. If you don’t desperately try to fit this prequel into the series about the famous cannibal, you may not necessarily be disgusted by it, because it is actually quite solid. (29/09/2008)

Somehow I didn't understand what Hannibal was born for. To be essentially a positive character destroyed by vengeance? To be an impressive portrait of a soul destroyed by war? Or to become, at least for a moment, a basically sympathetic hero-avenger? Even after 117 minutes of Webber's film, I didn't understand much more than that. The strange mess with a nickel-and-dime psychology alternates moments of apparent realism with B-movie motifs, it is unable to be either original or impressive - it's just perfectly nothing, confused, without gradation, flair... or anything memorable. Perhaps only Gaspard Ulliel had crazy charm and inner cohesion. Unfortunately, this cannot be said about the film as a whole. (27/08/2007)

I haven’t read Thomas Harris, and I also don't have a particularly positive relationship with this series, but Hannibal Rising is fine as a standalone post-war drama. For example, Gong Li is absolutely great, she's just contextually very misbecoming. So it’s all positive in reminding us of the reality that cannibalism may not be something from the realm of legends and hearsay, or one of the deviations of snobbery. (23/09/2012)