RED
DRAGON
With
Anthony
Hopkins,
Edward
Norton,
Ralph
Fiennes,
Emily
Watson,
Harvey
Keitel,
Mary-Louise
Parker,
Phillip
Seymour
Hoffman
Directed
by
Brett
Ratner
If
you've
seen
Manhunter
over
a
decade
ago
(Michael
Mann's
adaptation
of
Harris's
Red
Dragon),
a
lot
of
this
will
be
of
little
surprise.
Red
Dragon
is
of
course
Harris's
first
book
introducing
Dr.
Hannibal
Lecter
(Hopkins).
The
retired
&
cracked
agent
(Norton)
that
put
him
away
gets
called
back
in
to
confront
him
with
interviews
in
order
to
stop
a
killer
from
striking
again.
His
run-in
with
Lecter
before
his
incarceration
was
everything
but
pleasant.
Where
Manhunter
focussed
more
on
the
agent
and
his
psychological
embroilment
into
the
character
of
the
murderers
he
profiles,
Red
Dragon
obviously
shifts
the
relationship
to
that
of
him
and
the
now
cult
figure
Lecter
-
in
order
to
extract
clues
to
finding
the
killer
whose
parallel
story
gives
the
viewer
little
chance
of
falling
into
boredom.
Brett
Ratner
(whose
previous
directorial
stints
include
Rush
Hour
with
Jackie
Chan!)
crafts
a
fine
film
that
balances
the
suspense
and
horror
elements
very
discretely
but
effectively.
Fiennes
makes
a
good
turn
as
the
psychotic
title
character,
adding
another
level
to
his
range.
While
this
prequel
makes
the
trilogy
complete
(with
The
Silence
Of
The
Lambs
&
Hannibal),
apparently
another
one
is
in
production.
[Let's
hope
it
doesn't
turn
into
a
Lethal
Weapon
series
-
or,
God
forbid
a
TV
series!].
If
you
haven't
seen
Manhunter,
it's
worth
renting
-
even
if
only
for
the
extended
stalking
sequence
utilising
almost
the
entire
Iron
Butterfly
song
In-A-Gada-Da-Vida.
4
/
B
-
PB
1
2
3
4
5
6
A
-
B
-
C
Click
below
for
the
trilogy
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