Manhunter
I believe most people here know the story. Will Graham, retired FBI profiler, is brought back to help catch a serial killer nicknamed the "Tooth Fairy". He enlists the help of Doctor Hannibal Lecter, a cannibalistic serial killer that Will tracked down and put behind bars.
To be honest, this movie is a bit hit and miss. The things it gets right are really good though. The cinematography is beautiful and well executed. The soundtrack is also really good, from time to time, both beautiful and chilling.
I think William Petersen did an excellent job as Will Graham. This guy really gets inside the head of the people he's after and the consequences of that shows. You get the feeling that it really weighs him down, both past and present. The memory of Lecter haunts him, as well as the unplesant thoughts and feelings his confrontation with the man left behind. Yet there's this strange connection between them and you can't help but wonder if Graham admires him just a little. As for Lecter (in this movie spelled Lector, but nevermind), I think Brian Cox did a great job in that role. It's of course hard to replace the image I have of Hopkins as Lecter when watching this, seeing as how he pretty much perfected the character in the three movies he was in. While Cox never comes across as sophisticated as Hopkins, he gives of this unplesant and creepy vibe I never quite got from Hopkins. His Lecter feels more "real", so to speak. And I love his scenes with Will. Being shot the way they are, in this small white room, they feel much more intimate and personal than they did in Red Dragon. I like that.
What I didn't like was Tom Noonan as Dollarhyde, nor Joan Allen as Reba. Dollarhyde was introduced much later into the movie than in Red Dragon and never really became that terrifying creature that Ralph Fiennes did so well. It's not just compared to Fiennes that I find him lacking, he just never scared me. The scene with Stephen Lang should have been scary, but instead he just looked ridiculous with that stocking over his head and his much to timid acting. Joan Allen wasn't exactly bad, but Reba's relationship with Dollarhyde felt much to rushed and there weren't really any chemistry between them.
While the movies played out fairly well, I didn't care for the ending. The shootout I could live with, I guess, had it not been ruined by that song, which felt very out of place. Dollarhyde came across as a damn Terminator in that scene. No, I didn't care for that at all.
All in all, this is about as good as Red Dragon. Both movies had their strenght and weaknesses. I will gladly give this another watch and overall, I think I prefer Manhunter over Red Dragon. But it's by no means a perfect movie.
7/10
