Back in 2011-2013 I had the biggest obsession with Gaspard Ulliel and his gorgeous face, having never watched a single one of the movies he had been in. I cried when he died. I wish there could be more for me to see him in and desperately need to watch Moon Knight to see how his acting has improved now that I've seen this.
This was after all his first time playing a lead in English, so a lot of the acting got held back by his anxiety over his accent.
gif that makes a 16 year old fucked up forever
CW: Nazis, cannibalism and body horror but that's what we watch Hannibal movies for
I feel like every other scene would flip-flop between absolutely absurd writing and acting choices, and genuinely competent character work and an interesting villain origin story.
Truthfully, I think the character of Lady Murasaki was a bit superfluous. While I enjoyed the dynamic of a male character getting trained in fighting techniques by a lady master, and she did add an interesting element to Hannibal's backstory, the Samurai stuff is just weird.
The sword only gets used once and it's so obvious the mask piece was included just to reference The Silence of the Lambs.
Considering they had shown him defending himself and fighting bullies in an orphanage before he ended up in Paris, they could've done any other way for him to learn how to become a more efficient killer.
Idk, I haven't read the books, maybe Japanese culture is more important to Hannibal's past, but considering Tom Harris wrote this screenplay and the novel itself concurrently, I think it was just as likely put in purely for the aesthetics.
That stuff aside, I really liked the background of Hannibal growing up in Lithuania. The setting is interesting and I love the story-line of Hannibal living in a castle, having to evacuate to evade the Nazis, and by the time he makes it back the Soviets have claimed his childhood home as an orphanage that he gets to live in as yet another child of the people.
(also shoutout the head of the orphanage just straight up telling Hannibal he needs to let the bullies beat him up.)
On the other end, after Hannibal has gotten into medical school and has gotten a taste for killing, is when the fun of the movie really kicked in for me.
I'm here to watch an intelligent, captivating man go completely unhinged and eat people and boy does it deliver. He eats at least two guys' faces! Though, my favorite kill has to be when he decapitates one guy by tying him to a tree, looping the last length of the rope over his neck, and making his horse walk forward until the pressure becomes too much.
Overall, as much as there are some definite Choices™️ made here, I actually quite liked it and will probably revisit it even to watch the special features too!
A dull, charmless movie; At best unnecessary, at worst laughably bad. For the most part it just sort of cruised along on autopilot, strangely monotonous and uncompelling.
Gaspard Ulliel just didn't work as Hannibal Lecter. Presumably the idea was to show him become the Hannibal we know, but his first kill was the goofiest shit imaginable and his transformation was pretty much instantaneous at that point. After that he was just some guy doing a Hannibal Lecter impression while he sloppily killed people, constantly making hot-headed mistakes that belied the character.
Gong Li looked incredible, and gave a consistently excellent performance. Her expressions and body language gave the character a believability that everyone else lacked. She definitely seemed out of place in such an amateurish production.
Aside from those two, every other character was entirely forgettable. All the villains were one dimensional mobsters that were killed off as quickly as they came along, except the one detective character so bland and pointless he may as well not have been there.
There was some really shitty CGI at the start with a plane crashing, and a few horrible choices of foley near the end of the movie. I just don't understand why this was made. Who was asking for a tragic Hannibal Lecter origin story in which he learns to wield a katana, hunts down some war criminals, and falls in love with his aunt-in-law? I sure wasn't.
Conceptually perplexing and very forgettable. Not good.
SUMMARY: After the death of his parents during World War II, young Hannibal Lecter moves in with his beautiful aunt and begins plotting revenge on the barbarians responsible for his sister's death.
So in love with how NBC Hannibal clearly references the Hannibal films but instead of taking them as an inspiration for Hannibal’s character, the parallels between the movies and the series always depict Will instead.
Like this scene. This is a visual reference to Hannibal Rising (2007), where Hannibal kills one of the men that ate his sister.
In the show it’s WILL taking Hannibal’s place.
After this scene in Hannibal Rising, Hannibal continues to eat the man’s cheeks.
Sounds familiar?
Also, Will’s whole prison setup is a mirror of the setup in Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Hannibal in SOTL vs Will at the end of season 1/beginning of season 2:
They could have done the obvious, which is link the tv show Hannibal to the movie Hannibals (which, to be fair, they did in S3b; Hannibal’s prison chic minimalism was very much inspired by Manhunter (1986)). But I find it so interesting that they chose to visually mirror Hannibal’s development in Will’s storyline!! They’re the same. Will is following in Hannibal’s footsteps, he’s tracing it back to where it all began to become him. Ugh
i made this for MY viewing pleasure but i thot id show you anyways. it is a flow chart discussing the hannibal lecter cinematic universe and i have some notes on it
first and foremost these movies are all based on books but for simplicity and because i havent read them, we're only going to reference them. this is for the movies and we're working chronologically.
we start with Hannibal Rising (2007), which despite being first chronologically was both released and in the case of the book published last. it is the root of all hannibal. Hannibal is played by both Gaspard Ulliel and Aaran Thomas (at different ages)
from Hannibal Rising (2007) you go to Red Dragon (2002) which follows Will Graham as he consults Hannibal on the case of a serial killer nicknamed the Tooth Fairy/Great Red Dragon. Will Graham is played by Edward Norton and Hannibal is played by Anthony Hopkins.
Red Dragon is followed by Silence of the Lambs (1991) in which FBI agent in training Clarice Starling consults with Hannibal Lecter to solve the case of a serial killer nicknamed Buffalo Bill. Will Graham is offhandedly mentioned in the past tense in the Silence of the Lambs novel, which places this movie here chronologically. Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal and Jodie Foster plays Clarice Starling.
From Silence technically we go to Clarice (2021) but this is obviously a newer installation so i wouldnt be surprised if there were some continuity errors in the series. Clarice (2021) takes place 1 year after the events of Silence of the Lambs (1991) and it does not mention Hannibal Lecter whatsoever. Lol. Clarice is trying to get reacclimated to work after a break from the field. Clarice has been recast as Rebecca Breeds.
That means Hannibal (2001) is technically a sequel to Clarice (2021), despite having previously been a direct sequel to Silence (1991). It takes place 10 years after Silence of the Lambs (1991) or i suppose 9 years after Clarice (2021). Hannibal is trying to get back in contact with Clarice as he is hunted by a previous victim. Clarice has been recast as Julianne Moore, but Anthony Hopkins still plays Hannibal in this one.
There is also NBC Hannibal (2013-2015) which is really an island independent but adjacent to this flow chart but i thought i'd throw it in anyways. The show follows plot lines from all of the books, making it similar to all of the movies. Sometimes Will is substituted for Clarice, and it introduces new characters or adapts existing characters. Hannibal is played by Mads Mikkelsen and Will Graham is played by Hugh Dancy in the show.
There is also Manhunter (1981), is largely considered a FLOP movie. It follows the same plot as Red Dragon (2002), but Silence (1991) was not marketed as a sequel to Manhunter (1981), despite Silence the novel occurring chronologically after Red Dragon the novel. They're very different stylistically and according to many take place in different universes, hence it also being an island on the flowchart. Will Graham is played by William Petersen and Hannibal is played by Brian Cox.
Side note. you have no idea how pleasing it is to my brain that so many of these movies were released in a year that ends in 1. Red Dragon (2002) is forgiven cause it was a direct follow up to Hannibal (2001) so it couldnt possibly be released in a xxx1 year. but Hannibal Rising (2007) you have no excuse
Saw your Hozier/Hannigram post, any thoughts on ‘butchered tounge’ and Hannibal’s refusal to talk about his Lithuanian background and his memories there, and possibly him only speaking Lithuanian to Will once they settled together.
Hannibal, NBC // Hannibal Rising, Dr. Peter Webber (2007) // Butchered Tongue, Hozier.
I had something related to that song in mind and it fits with Hannibal. He is a foreigner who bears the extinction of his lineage, they literally massacred his entire family and now he is what he is thanks to it (Mischa). So he avoids all that dark past, burying his roots so that only a few can see them (Will). Thanks for the idea. <333