Silence of the Lambs (rated R, 1991)
and
Hannibal (rated R, 2001)
Jordan’s Review
Silence of the Lambs: 8 out of 10
Hannibal: 9 out of 10
Our first double feature! Ok, I know these movies have been out for a while, and maybe most of you have seen them, but for Eli and me this was our first viewing. We watched them back to back, starting at 10 pm and going until 2 the next morning, and I’m not going to lie to you, it got intense.
Silence of the Lambs is a satisfying movie. It is something that we all have heard quoted a thousand times, and yet for being so overplayed it still keeps its… certain flavor. The line, “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti,” delivered with such casualness, almost cheerfulness, literally made me shout out loud at Eli “Holy Crap, that is BAD!” The movie moves with perfect pacing, never holding a single scene a minute too long. You are taken carefully, with attention to detail, throughout the entire chilling narrative until the freaky-deaky ending.
Hannibal comes back ten years later with a new director and kicks the intensity, style and cruelty up to an almost ridiculous measure. I don’t even want to describe it to you, but it was the most fun-to-watch movie I’ve seen since The Godfather. And that movie was fun to watch.
‘Bad’ was a word we threw around a lot during the movies. Hannibal Lecter, played of course by Anthony Hopkins, is one of the—no, is THE—most evil villain I have ever seen on screen. One of my favorite moments in the series comes in the second movie, when a former victim, missing his face and out for revenge, cries, “I bet you wish you had fed the rest of me to the dogs!” Lecter patronizingly replies, “No… I like you just the way you are…”
Owen Davian, from Mission Impossible III, was my former favorite villain. Remember his cold “…Do you have a wife… girlfriend…? I’m going to kill her,” spiel?
Hannibal would have had Owen Davian sobbing in the corner in minutes.
Eli’s review
Silence of the Lambs: 8 of 10
Silence of the Lambs is definitely a classic. It was so, so bad. When I say bad I mean “ Oh jeepers, I just ran over my girlfriends dog” bad. You know that feeling you get when you wake up from a bad dream and you are remembering details? And you can still remember that dream to this day? That’s the feeling I had watching Anthony Hopkins play the most sinister roll for a villain in the history of film. Forget the Joker, the Joker is PG-13, Hannibal is straight up evil. The very first scene you see Hannibal I said to Jordan “ That is a bad man.” We were hooked the rest of the movie.
The movie was filmed in the 90’s and it had a 90’s feel to it. Lower budget than most films today, spotty supporting cast, but two names blew this film out of normalcy and into elite ranks; Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins made this movie the scariest movie of all time. Foster brought the emotion. The fear was something you could feel with her. Every scene her emotions matched your emotions. It was like she was working the investigation along with you. I give it an 8. Great acting, great suspense, mediocre soundtrack, mediocre supporting cast, evil story, but a story that could actually happen; Hannibal is not crazy, just smarter than you.
Hannibal: 8.5
Hannibal is the lesser known sequel to Silence of the Lambs, but it outruns its predecessor with amazing music, another smashing performance by Hopkins, and an even more evil (if that’s possible) ending. When you sit down to watch Hannibal you’re not sitting down to watch a chick flick, you sit down saying, “I hope I am scared witless tonight” and by golly, that gets delivered in a nice shiny box. Hannibal brings a much needed conclusion to this story, and even though it doesn’t have Jodie Foster, it’s made late enough to where that doesn’t matter. Julianne Moore is a look-alike to the assassin-inspiring Foster, so I am satisfied. Hannibal flexes his brain power in this film, and shows you just how completely and utterly evil he really is. In Silence of the Lambs you knew he was bad, but in Hannibal you get to see that he really is bad.(time for another look into the past) Remember when you were 4 and you were told never to touch a hot stove because it would hurt? “O come on, it cant be as bad as you think can it? (touch) O, yah, uh, it is that bad.” Hannibal. 8.5 out of 10, why? More money = better music, better director= a very horrifying film.
Ta-Ta, E.
1 Comment
October 30, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Agreed. As often as possible. Also, when am I going to experience the greatness that is your next movie review? Your last one was a month ago!