Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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

The first film about the famous Hannibal Lecter dates from 1986 and this is the problem of this movie I think, it has aged badly. Besides this problem, it is still a Hannibal Lecter that is not played by Anthony Hopkins, certainly, but Brian Cox is not bad, as is William Peterson who is well present in his role as main actor. One complaint I could make at this movie is also that it is a bit too long. Otherwise, it is not bad and a 3/5 is therefore logical for the first Hannibal Lecter's movie.

Plot In A Paragraph: Former FBI profiler Will Graham (William Prterson) returns to service to pursue a deranged serial murderer named "the Tooth Fairy" by the media.Giving much bigger roles to William Peterson and Dennis Farina, both actors he had used in his first movie Thief, Mann is back on more familiar and solid ground following his misstep with The Keep. Hands down Manhunter is my favourite movie featuring the character Hannibal Lector. I actually rented this movie on video the same day I rented Twins. I'm not too sure if there was a delayed release or if the video case was just placed back in the wrong place but I didn't see it years later. This is a brilliantly directed, excellently acted, intense movie that sucks you in and drags you along with it. As with Thief, we get a nice Beach shots, with lots of shots of the ocean early on as we see Graham enjoying his retirement. Similar to how Caan was shown enjoying his life after his supposed last job in Thief. Once again we get another other great score too. Mann sure does know how to pick his composers. As for Petersen, he stars in two of my favourite mid 80's movies, this and To Live & Die In LA, yet other than those, Young Guns 2 and a remake of 12 Angry Men I down recall seeing him in anything agin till the CSI shows. I'm surprised as he is handsome, in good shape and he could act.With an $8 million domestic gross Manhunter finished the year the 76th highest grossing movie of 1986.

Although THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is the film that everyone remembers for Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of the cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lector, I find that in most cases the general public don't realise that Hopkins was not the first actor to play Lector. No, that dubious honour goes to Brian Cox, whose brief but powerful turn as Lector in MANHUNTER is just one of the film's many highlights. I didn't really know what to expect when I watched this film; I'd heard that it was good, but little did I realise just HOW good it was. MANHUNTER is one of the very best films about a serial killer I've seen; this is an intelligent, exciting and thought-provoking story which I actually preferred to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS in some respects.This is a disturbing film too, although without the grossness of the film that followed it. Here, the violence is left to the imagination, which makes it all the more effective. Usually the police investigations in these films are dry and boring, but here, as the characters doing the investigating are very human, it becomes interesting and watchable. The cast is first rate; especially good is Peterson as the slightly disturbed FBI man haunted by his previous encounters with Cox. He is equalled by the underrated Tom Noonan, who is simply brilliant as the killer, Francis Dollarhyde. Noonan would forever be typecast as a baddie after this performance, but his work here is excellent as he creates a childish, sympathetic man who cannot control the urges or what he does.The strong supporting cast includes Joan Allen (very good) as a blind victim; Dennis Farina as a fellow cop (wait, doesn't he always play that role?), and Stephen Lang as a nerdy reporter who meets a fate worse than death. Michael Mann's assured direction keeps the film believable and interesting at all times; MANHUNTER is exciting when it needs to be and very disturbing at other times (especially that scene with Dollarhyde with the stocking over his head... an image guaranteed to give you nightmares). Odd scenes like the burning wheelchair victim are unexpected and help to keep you on your toes. A rare film that doesn't underestimate the intelligence of the audience, MANHUNTER is a perfectly-made film that should be rewatched in the days of populist stuff like SEVEN and THE BONE COLLECTOR just to remember how good it is.