Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This 2002 film is the prequel to "The Silence of the Lambs", and a re-boot of "Manhunter". Leading FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) has a gift for psychoanalysis and criminology, allowing him to see things from the criminal's point of view; he's been working with Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to stop the 'Chesapeake Ripper". The film opens with a scene showing how Graham manages to crack the case and subsequently arrest Lecter for the crimes (subsequently starting the setup for "TSOTL"). Due to injuries sustained Graham retires, but is soon brought back into role when agent Jack Crawford (Harvey Keitel) asks for help with "The Toothfairy" (Ralph Fiennes), a killer who strikes on the full moon and has an issue with mirrors. With 3 weeks till the next full moon Graham works with Crawford to try and put a stop to the killing spree, using any means possible - from feeding the press (Philip Seymour Hoffman) false information, to interviewing the man who nearly ended Graham's life, Dr Lecter. Meanwhile the "Red Dragon" is rising.This is a great re-boot of "Manhunt", which was a decent film it lacked some style and class, stopping me from engaging and suspending disbelief with it properly. This film actually sticks more to the book than "Manhunt" did, only deviating by adding more Lecter/Graham interviews. Red Dragon, for me, is actually better than "Hannibal", the sequel to "TSOTL" because it is fast paced and has a lot of thrills and tension - which is more in line with what "TSOTL" built. The acting in this is good, I was dubious about Norton and Keitel when I read the pre-release information, but I think they did well with their performances. The book seemed to indicate that the Graham character would be grittier than what Norton gave, but it still worked well for the film, a darker performance may have made the film less accessible. My concerns with Keitel were just that Scott Glenn played what I expected from Jack Crawford in "TSOTL", stiffer and less connectable - Keitel softens Crawford a little but not enough to make me feel it was a poor performance. Fiennes as the villain worked particularly well - he played intense and creepy really well, he actually surprised me with this role. All in all I was surprised and delighted with this. I didn't expect the director of "Rush Hour" and "Rush Hour 2" (Brett Ratner) to bring to screen something so tense and gripping. This is a great post-prequel to "TSOTL", better than "Hannibal" and "Manhunter", and even in its own right, if you haven't seen the other films - it still stands up as a great film. 8 out of 10.

Red Dragon takes place before Silence of the Lambs, and I must say, this movie surprised me. There are moments in this movie that remind of Silence of the Lambs. Will Graham (Edward Norton) is reminiscent of Clarice Starling being the "middle man". Anthony Hopkins is back in his role as Hannibal Lecter. And our main antagonist, "The Tooth Fairy" is played by Ralph Fiennes similar to "Buffalo Bill". Together these three make up the plot, Will Graham needs Hannibal's intellectual help to stop the "Tooth Fairy" from murdering families. The balance between these three characters at times is great up until Francis Dolarhyde, "The Tooth Fairy" finds a love interest. Reba McClane (Emily Watson), a blind girl who falls for him, not for his looks but for what is inside. This whole subplot goes way too in depth and is hard to take seriously. The more the story goes into the relationship the less we connect Graham, Lecter and Dolarhyde. Furthermore, this creates a longer run time (2hr 4min) which could have been easily avoided if you take out the whole relationship subplot. The movie does recovery with a good third act, which ties all loose ends up and references Silence of the Lambs in the process. Red Dragon is a far better movie than Hannibal and is worth the watch for any Silence of the Lambs fans.

After following up the incredible "Silence of the Lambs" with a very-lacking "Hannibal", the Hannibal Lecter series of films goes back to its origins with "Red Dragon". The results are much more enjoyable (if a bit repetitive), making one wonder what might have happened had THIS been the original?For a basic plot summary, "Red Dragon" takes place before the events of "Lambs". Brilliant young FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) finally captures the mysterious Hannibal (Anthony Hopkins), but sustains wounds both psychological and physical in the process. Fast-forward a few years into the future, and Graham must revisit Lecter in order to solve the gruesome "Tooth Fairy" (Ralph Fiennes) murders.Clearly, director Brett Ratner studied the faults of "Hannibal" and made sure not to include them in this third installment. This time, the plot takes the same basic form as the original, only with a new killer and agent. This results in a much better overall narrative and interesting movie. Basically, if you enjoyed "Lambs" then this one will give you a similar experience.Why isn't this film regarded as more of a classic, then? Well, frankly it is because it already WAS done before in "Lambs"! In effect, its greatest strength is also what prevents it from being a true classic. It is (almost quite literally) a "Cut, Copy, Paste" of the original format. This is good in comparison to "Hannibal", but by definition it just can't quite attain the success of "Lambs", since the original is always the original.Overall, then, "Red Dragon" is a solid movie that, truth be told, probably resurrected the Hannibal series of movies and gave it some hope for a future. It completely goes back to its roots to tell an interesting story, and it succeeds in utilizing Hopkins to his fullest. It just won't go on your "best of" list because "Lambs" is already there. One has to wonder, though, what could have happened if this plot would have been the original...?

Brett Ratner's Red Dragon, although pretty darn stylish, is just cursed with being the least engaging and unique Hannibal Lecter film out there. It's not that it's a bad flick, but when you have Silence Of The Lambs, Hannibal and the far superior Manhunter to compete with, you're trucking down a rocky road. The strongest element this film has going for it is Ralph Fiennes, who plays the hell out of the role of Francis Dolarhyde, the disturbed serial killer also known as the Tooth Fairy. Previously played by an introverted and terrifying Tom Noonan, Fiennes gives him a more rabid, haunted vibe and steals the show, but then he always does. Edward Norton is a bit underwhelming as FBI behavioural specialist Will Graham, sandwiched between William L. Peterson and Hugh Dancy's modern day, definitive take on the character. Graham has the tact and luck to ensnare notorious cannibalistic murderer Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins purrs his way through a hat trick in the role), whose help he subsequently needs in pursuing Dolarhyde. Harvey Keitel clocks in as rock jawed Jack Crawford, Graham's boss and mentor, solidly filling in for far mor memorable turns from Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Farina and Scott Glenn. All the scenes with Dolarhyde fare best, given some truly impressive rural cinematography that sets the mood for the killer's twisted mindset nicely. The cerebral jousting between Graham and Lecter only half works here, dulled in comparison to the crackling exchanges that Jodie Foster masterfully handled with Hopkins, who was far, far scarier back then. Emily Watson lends her doe eyed presence to the blind girl that brings out the only traces of humanity still left in Dolarhyde, Philip Seymour Hoffman shows up as bottom feeding tabloid reporter Freddy Lounds, and Mary Louise Parker, grounded as always, plays Graham's wife. You could do worse in terms of films like this, but in the Lecter franchise it falls pretty far short of any of the other entries, save for the few inspired moments involving Fiennes