| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
A- |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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Good, but redundant
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Feb 13, 2007
6
of
8 people found this review helpful
"Red Dragon" is a good movie, based on the eponymous novel by Thomas Harris. "Manhunter", a movie from the mid-'80s, based on the same novel, is borderline classic.
"Dragon" features the considerable talents of Edward Norton, Anthony Hopkins, and Ralph Fiennes as Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter, and Francis Dollarhyde, respectively. These same three roles were played, in my opinion, more effectively by the lesser-accomplished William (CSI) Petersen, Brian Cox, and Tom Noonan in "Manhunter".
I was a fan of the novel before either movie came out, and both movies take a certain amount of liberties with the book. "Red Dragon", the movie, though, misses the eerie tone of the book, while "Manhunter" scores a direct hit.
Many will take me to task for giving Cox the nod over Hopkins for his protrayal of Lecter. Bear in mind, though, that Lecter was a relatively minor character as written in the novel. Hopkins is the man who made Lecter a household name, and for him to play this role as a minor character would not be acceptable to the movie-going public who loved him in "Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal". Therefore, director Ratner writes in additional scenes for Lecter's character in "Dragon".
The point is that this story, as written, was supposed to be more about the Graham character than Lecter. Norton makes a noble attempt to show how Graham's mind works inexorably toward finding the killer, but he is hamstrung by the script. Michael Mann, the fine director of Manhunter, gives Petersen the screen time needed to fully develop his character. He also sets a more eerie, somber tone for the movie.
Still, "Dragon" delivers a good, solid mystery with a good deal of suspense of thrills thrown in. I highly recommend it for rental. You could really do yourself a favor, though, if you rented both "Dragon" and "Manhunter" and watched them back to back to make your own comparisons. If you really want something disturbing, though, read the book. |
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