I saw Red Dragon today (for Bill Murphy)

[JTG51]

No, I didn't see the movie for Bill, I'm writing about it here because Bill was interested in opinions.

I won't go into any details, because I'm assuming most here haven't seen the movie yet. I will say that it was MUCH better than Hannibal. I am almost ready to say it was better than Silence of the Lambs also. That could be because I haven't seen that one for a few years though.

I'm a big Ed Norton fan and thought he was great. Just as good as Jodie Foster was in Silence. Ralph Fines was also very good, and of course Anthony Hopkins was great.

I've never seen Manhunter, so I can't make that comparison. I'm going to make a point to see it soon though. I've never read any of the books either, so I can't comment on that.

Anyway, it was a very good movie. Suspenseful from the first minute to the last.

[PokerBabe(aka)]

Goody, goody /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

[J_V]

I agree. Better than Silence of the Lambs. It was that good.

[2005]

Absolutely, this movie was excellent. I especially loved the score/sound... stunning. On the edge of my seat the whole time.

Gavin

[Nick]

This third installment is little more than a 'pot boiler'. It doesn't come close to the thrill, suspense, and acting of 'Silence'. Anthony Hopkins has a shrunken cameo-like role and only appears in prison - not 'free' to do his flesh eating work - except in the opening scene - (which is a great scene).

Now duh, if you like Ed Norton as an actor better than Anthony Hopkins - well then of course you're not really a 'Hannibal the Cannibal' fan and your whole world is upside down. And, no way does Norton's performace approach that of Jodie Foster's. Ralph Fiennes as the
insane villain 'Dragon' is not very convincing. e.g. he's supposed to be disfigured with a mild cleft lip but even with it looks more handsome than 95% of the male population.

By the way, the scene in the house where the Dragon sets the house afire with his blind date still inside, etc. - there are serious flaws in the logic behind this event - that is, it was phoney as hell.

[Vince Lepore]

My opinion.

Sound effects great. The rest of the movie was not worth the price of the admission in my opinion. I rate it a 5. Lecter is a remote character in this one. Norton is super human in his ability to recover from "Killing blows".
The screen writing doesn't even come close to Silence of the Lambs (A classic thhhrriller in my opinion). Fines is simply "in the movie" as is Norton's wife. Their characters never seem to fully develop especially the wife even though she has a critical scene in the movie. I did like the scene where fines gets "befriended" (could be beheaded) by his blind girlfriend. Really added a lot to the movie. The ending looks like something out of a Sylvester Stallone Cobra movie. Hey, I hope you enjoy it.

Vince