Red Dragon v Manhunter - Cast Yer Vote

[Bill Murphy]

Red Dragon opens tomorrow and it presents a rather unprecedented opportunity to compare a remake to the original, which I'm sure the media will be binging on. This will be esp. true due to the success of the succeeding films in the series, and the continuing reappraisal of the first film, & subsequent successes of its cast & director.

I saw Manhunter when it came out in '86, on a total whim, had no clue what it was about beforehand[hadn't read the book]. I loved it and I like it a lot more than Silence & light years more than Hannibal. I like the book RD more than the book Silence[although its close]. The book Hannibal is simply the worst book ever written by a well known author. Gary Oldman & Julianne Moore were very good in the film, but nothing could overcome the preposterous plot[although the hazy outline of a good story WAS there; Starling in deadend job, one of Lecter's original victims still alive, etc].

Both the films have outstanding casts. MH's director was Michael Mann[nuf said]. RD's director Brett Ratner has done the Rush Hour flicks & The Family Man, and has been running a lot of smack about RD being truer to the book, etc. Now, its true that MH didn't go into Dolaryde's past at all & truncated the ending, but it sure didn't affect atmosphere or story pacing at all, IMO.

Anyway, based on the previews I doubt I'll rank RD ahead of MH, but I'll still prolly like it a lot. The story's too good & the cast too strong. PSH as Lounds=genius. I'm gonna see it first thing tomorrow morning & will add my review to this thread. Ya'll pile on once ya see RD & rent MH, if necessary. Uston is on record as hating MH, so it'll be interesting to see what everyone else thinks.

Poker players do see a lot of movies, don't they?

[PokerBabe(aka)]

Hi Billy- I liked the book much better than Manhunter. NOBODY can even begin to compare to Hopkins as the wonderfully evil Hannibal Lecter. And....I have been in love with Edward Norton from the first time I saw him on film. I say that Red Dragon wins it hands down. Babe

[Uston]

I'll give you my opinion later in the week. I've sworn to never see a movie on opening night again, as in a packed theatre there will invariably be at least ten loud halfwits who either won't shut up or will forget to turn their cell phones off. The reviews I've read have been very favorable and all of them have been by reviewers that panned Hannibal (aka the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen).

[eMarkM]

I'm sure it will better than Hannibal and it is getting favorable reviews, but c'mon, remaking a movie that was done just a little more than 10 years ago? What's the point? Oh yeah, that one didn't have Anthony Hopkins, so they have to remake it with him. At this point Hannibal--a great movie villian--is becoming a caricature of itself.

[Bill Murphy]

No point in rehashing the plot or performances, but I was pleasantly surprised by RD. Very interesting contrast w/Manhunter. Same plot, characters, & dialog, but a completely different 'feel' to each movie. Enough difference in script emphasis[and some 'new' stuff] to make it well worth seeing. All-star cast is superb, of course. Hopkins chews a little scenery, but nothing too bad.

RD is very similar to Silence & far superior to Hannibal[which goes w/out saying]. Well worth seeing, & it would be fun to rent MH right after, esp. if you've never seen it or its been awhile.

I still prefer MH, prolly cuz I saw it first, and I had really liked William Petersen in To Live & Die In L.A. /forums/images/icons/cool.gif the year before.

Anyway, chk out RD if you're at all interested in it.

[PokerBabe(aka)]

Goody, goody, Billy. I will see it soon. LGEG (look good, eat good). Babe

[HDPM]

Yeah been a long time since I saw MH. Liked it and To Live and Die in L.A. But that was so long ago you could get away with smoking in the back of the theater. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[Uston]

I didn't want to wait until Sunday to see Red Dragon so I left work early on Friday and saw a matinee. First, let me say the I have never anticipated a film as eagerly as this one. From what I've seen, read, and heard, I expected it to be almost as good as The Silence Of The Lambs, which, loosely translated, means that I expected one of the 15 or 20 best movies I've ever seen. It was at least as good as anticipated. The cast is obviously outstanding. Philip Seymour Hoffman turns in his best performance since Boogie Nights and Ken Leung (the villain from Rush Hour) was surprisingly fantastic. The only choice I didn't like after having seen the movie was Harvey Keitel. It could be that I enjoy him more in his scumbag roles in Bad Lieutenant and Taxi Driver or that Scott Glenn played the same role flawlessly in The Silence Of The Lambs. I'm also beginning to think that Edward Norton is incapable of turning in a bad performance. For the benefit of anyone who hasn't yet seen Red Dragon, I won't comment plot except to say that it stays true to the book very well. To any fan of Thomas Harris' early work, that's a very good thing. For anyone who's skeptical, just try and pretend that Hannibal (both the book and movie) never existed.