hyped garbage

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

This is the lesser known Hannibal Lector film(to Silence of the lambs) but some consider it as good or even better than that film. I happen to feel that both have their plus points and this Michael Mann film has many strong points including an amazing soundtrack and great performance by William Peterson as Det. Will Graham. Brian Cox is chilling in his own way as Lector and his interactions with Peterson just show the kind of magnitude two capable and talented actors can bring to a scene. This is a must watch film.

This is a great movie. Suspence and thrill is ever present and intensified by the selection of music, eerie personna of the protagonist Will Graham (William Petersen), Hannibal Lector and others. Acting is overall pretty good, although not the best, because i find some moments over-racted. For example, i don't find that convincing that Will uncovers everything during his investigations and speaks it out loud for everybody to hear. Maybe it's just me, but it is a minor annoyance i have with the film. However i absolutely love and feel the conversations he has with Hannibal, some very deep meanings are uncovered though those and you get to understand the very well written characters. Michael Mann's direction is brilliant though. This is an intellectual/psychological movie, don't think that it's going to have huge criminal takedowns and the like. Mann directs the actors to discuss amongst themselves so meticulously all the key details before an important scene. I love that about Mann. Cinematography is beautiful, further enhancing the dramatic feel of the movie. The plot is very well laid out. I analyzed it a bit, and i don't think there are any loopholes, it's solid. The 2h duration of the movie is good, but a second viewing will probably be required in order to understand everything. Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecktor delivers, he's spot on (not as iconic as Hopkins in the Silence of the Lambs though, but just 2nd only to him). The tooth Ferry (Tom Noonan) acting is disturbing, as is the character's role. I really enjoyed it. I loved this movie. Rating: 8/10 - Great

A killer, dubbed the 'Tooth Fairy' by the police has murdered two apparently unconnected families; one on Atlanta, the other in Birmingham, Alabama. He strikes each month on the night of the full moon so the race is on to catch him. With no other leads the FBI call in Will Graham, a former profiler, who retired after a particularly traumatic, high-profile case. In order to get his mind back in the game he goes to visit Dr Hannibal Lecktor, the infamous killer he put behind bars. This meeting gets reported in the gutter press and ultimately puts his family in danger. As he reviews the crime scenes Will starts to get into the head of the killer; working out how he operates and ultimately how he selects the families he intends to kill.This is a gripping thriller with Nietzschean undertones. Will Graham is an interesting central character; a man who as looked into the abyss before and felt it looking back and now he is being asked to do it again. We don't see the killer until a scene where he is clearly identified; this isn't about the viewer figuring out who did it ahead of the detective it is about seeing how the detective closes in on the killer. Director Michael Mann keeps everything very stylish; not surprising that he'd previously given us the TV series 'Miami Vice'; the epitome of '80s cool. William Petersen does a really fine job as Will Graham; an interesting character with a history. Brian Cox may only have a small part as Dr Lecktor but he manages to be menacing in a subtle manner. Tom Noonan is suitably menacing as the killer, especially in the scenes where he takes a blind colleague on a date and later gets jealous when he sees her talking to another man. The supporting cast is pretty solid too. Given the subject matter there could be plenty of disturbing content; thankfully it is more restrained and apart from a brief shot of crime scene photographs and blood stains in a house there is little in the way of disturbing material; it is described but not shown. Overall this is a really solid thriller that I'd certainly recommend.

"Manhunter" is an American crime thriller from 1986, so this one had its 30th anniversary last year. The director is Oscar nominee Michael Mann and he is also the one who adapted Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon" for the screen here. And if you hear that title, you maybe already realize that this film takes place in the universe of Hannibal Lecter. Actually, it is the very first film about this subject, even if not too many remember it today anymore. This certainly also has to do with all the awards and critics recognition for "Silence of the Lambs" that came out 5 years later roughly. But this one here also features a solid cast like William Petersen as the lead actor who is very much known for CSI today or Joan Allen, who has several Oscar nominations or Stephen Lang from "Avatar" or the late Dennis Farina and Americans will perhaps recognize some other names too. This is a relatively long movie at slightly under two hours and this is also one of the main problems here because I felt that it dragged quite a bit, especially in the second half. The film frequently looks like a typical one-man bad-ass routine movie from the 1980s filled with macho moments and stuff like that. But Petersen may not have been the right choice for that. He certainly is no Charles Bronson and his screaming into the open as if his enemy was there also felt a little pathetic at times.Story-wise, the film also did not do too much I guess. The Lecter moments with the criminal mastermind in his cell were probably still among the better, but the general crime story did not work out too well I must say. This is a bit disappointing as the main antagonist had solid moments when he was getting screen time. But he does not get far from enough. Instead it is all about Petersen's character, but he is no Jodie Foster either. I am a bit surprised to see the strong reviews, rating and reception for this one here as I found it utterly bland and uninspired for the most part. The final shooting wasn't bad, but it's certainly not worth sitting through 90 minutes of mediocrity (at best) for that. Maybe it is worth checking out for the very biggest fans of everything Lecter-related, but everybody else can very much skip it. Mann is a filmmaker where I have not seen too much yet, but want to, but I must admit this film here did not get me curious about his body of work at all. It was also a letdown from the atmospheric side. Watch something else instead.