Hannibal (2001)

Sequel to the Oscar winning 1991 film Silence of the Lambs', 'Hannibal' picks up 10 years after the events of the first film. Julianne Moore very ably takes over the role of Clarice Starling from Jodi Foster, this is one of the best examples of a recast I can think of. Clarice is older and wiser now, more jaded, run down by the bureaucracy of the FBI. At the start of the film she is involved in a bust gone wrong, its not her fault but she takes heat for it. Then the spector of Hannibal Lecter returns, first in the form of his lone surviving victim promising new leads, and later the man himself.

One of the things I most appreciated about this film is how different it is from the original. Both movies are based on books by Thomas Harring so there is still a strong sense of continuity, these stories come from the same mind. 

Much of the film concerns Lecter, again played beguilingly by Anthony Hopkins, having assumed a new identity and living in Florence. A local police detective played by Giancrlo Gianni is inveating a disapernce, a scholar whose old position Lecter's alter ego is now on the verge of filling. The detective gradually pieces together who Lecter is, but instead of proceeding through channels, he opts to persue a reward from Lecter's vengeful surviving victim. Things don't work out well for anyone involved.

For roughly its first half this movie really worked for me, then the whole Italian sequence started running long, and the film got increasingly over the top and trashy. 'Silence' felt more grounded and focused then 'Hannibal', and it felt like it had more of a story to tell. The story here exists because the first was so successful, and the desire to top what came before becomes far too dominate. While the central performances are strong and the film well made, it still feels exploitive in a way it's predecessor, despite much gore and sleeze of its own, managed to avoid. **1/2