This isn't a new movie. Red Dragon has been done before, except they called it Manhunter, and for the most part, it sucked. And of course it did: They forgot the perennial frightener of small children, Anthony Hopkins.
Because just as much as this is the Hannibal Lecter trilogy, it's the Anthony Hopkins trilogy. Except after his first run as America's favorite cannibal in Silence of the Lambs, screenwriters have failed to concoct a story that has done the slightest bit of justice to Hopkins' brilliance.
Hannibal, shadowed by Jodie Foster's Clarice and Academy Award glory, failed to complement Hopkins with either an intriguing story or worthy costars. And, while the performances approach the quality of those in Silence, Dragon is severely hindered by its lack of a captivating plotline.
Dragon begins with the Hannibal Lecter we have always wanted to see--hosting a dinner party, serving a victim to unknowing friends. After apprehending our hungry friend, a traumatized Will Graham (Ed Norton) leaves the FBI, only to be recalled to defang the "Toothfairy Killer." Enter Ralph Fiennes, forever the English Patient and now a killer, a twisted white boy who dreams of William Blake's painting of the red dragon. Apparently it speaks to him. It might even force him to stalk and kill his victims. However, the filmmakers fail to tell us how or when this came to be. What could have been a masterpiece fizzles with an untold story of masquerading insanity.
Nothing is going to be as good as Silence. Ed Norton may be a rock, but the character he chases--Fiennes not to be blamed--is underdeveloped and raw. The pieces are in place: a childhood of abuse, a deformity of impact, but two back to back family murders does not create a serial killer. Fiennes' story ends before the movie starts, as the turns he takes never pave a believable trail for us to follow.
And trapped within this mediocre script, Norton too is merely solving a murder. This is a straightforward investigative cop chase.
Hello, "Law and Order!"
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