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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Red Dragon
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  out of 4
 Review by Susan Granger 3½ stars out of 4
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He's b-a-a-a-ck! The diabolically irresistible Hannibal Lecter is set
to scare you again, not to mention building up a box-office bonanza. Seven years
before "The Silence of the Lambs," novelist Thomas Harris wrote "Red Dragon" in
which he introduced the forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, along with
top FBI investigator Will Graham. (If the story seems familiar, it was made into
"Manhunter" (1986), starring Brian Cox, so this is actually a re-make. What the
original lacked, however, was Anthony Hopkins, who has made this meaty role
indelibly his own.)
The enticing opening sequence explains Lecter's background and his
bizarre relationship with intuitive Will Graham (Edward Norton). After a
culinary diversion, the plot begins to unfold. With Lecter incarcerated in a
hospital for the criminally insane, Graham, over the protests of his wife
(Mary-Louise Parker), is lured out of retirement in Florida by his former boss
(Harvey Keitel) to use his psychic powers to catch a savage, ritualistic serial
killer, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes), a.k.a. The Tooth Fairy, who strikes
sleeping families under the full moon. An admirer of Dr. Lecter and the mystic
William Blake (whose pen & watercolor drawing, Red Dragon, is on display at the
Brooklyn Museum), Dolarhyde becomes involved with a blind co-worker (Emily
Watson). So what about Hannibal Lecter? He's a menacing master manipulator,
interacting with both Graham and Dolarhyde. Working with Oscar-winning"Silence
of the Lambs" scripter Ted Tally and cameraman Dante Spinotti, director Brett
Ratner keeps the tension taut - and his casting is impeccable. On the Granger
Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Red Dragon" is a suspenseful 8. It's a creepy chiller
thriller that evokes Lecter's legendary recipe for death.
Copyright © 2002 Susan Granger
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