Seeing it then and loving, seeing it now and see more clearly, the ballet and poetry, Ridley brought is great. Sure more visceral, brutal and certainly not psychological thriller like SotL is. Not as good, I will say, but this has always been a favorite. I just don’t know why so widely panned. We open the world and set Hannibal free. Natural progression. It’s as different as Alien and Aliens.

I think this particular movie, bc it came on the heels of the first multi-Oscar winner gets sidelined, but really is a great sequel. Certainly better than most.

What do you think about this movie?

I didn't think the book was very good so it starts there for me. Given that Foster, Demme, and Ted Tally all passed on the story, it's likely that they agreed.

Here's what Tally had to say about it.

"For a lot of reasons. I didn't like the book. The director, Jonathan Demme, and I read it and were horrified. We didn't see how we could make a movie from it that we could be proud of and not feel sleazy about it, without making it a totally different story, which we could have done on our own. It was upsetting because we had a friendship with Tom Harris and felt we owed him a lot. But he was defensive and didn't want anything changed and it was frustrating because it would have been the biggest payday for all of us, putting us up there in Spielberg territory"

Inside Film Online - Austin Heart of Screenwriting Conference

i love it. Beautifully shot, and scored. I don't even have a 4k TV or playback source, but I want to buy the new 4k release.

I often wonder if people were ready to hate it, having read the book, even though they changed it, substantially. I enjoyed the book, as well, but I can see the argument against it.

There were probably also those that were upset that Jodie Foster didn't return, and although I think Julianne Moore did a (mostly) good job, I still wish it had been Foster.

Gary Oldman was a bit over the top, as Mason Verger, but I suppose that character needed to be over the top.

Giancarlo Giannini was great as Rinaldo Pazzi.

The Florence part as a whole was just a joy to watch, particularly the pickpocket scene.

Didn't read the book, but chose "hate it" in the poll. Thought it was a terrible film all around. I like Julianne Moore a great deal, but she is no Jodie Foster and felt so lost in the role. Hopkins wasn't very good in this. He was much better in "Red Dragon". A far superior movie IMO and one I enjoyed a great deal. Go figure, I loathe Brett Ratner and love Ridley Scott.

It's crappy source material. I read that book and was really bummed out. SotL is one of my favorite movies of all time and I still went to Hannibal in the theater but didn't like it much at all. And Moore was given a thankless job trying to replicate one of the most iconic women's roles in the history of film. She's alright, but a poor substitute for Jodie. Honestly I don't think I've watched it since it first came out on DVD.

Story wise it's a mess. As a dark comedy I thought it was very successful.

It was just too different from SotL for most, imo.

I really enjoyed it. Don't understand the hate it got, actually didn't know it got any hate at all until this thread. wow.

I always liked the movie alot, but I get where people think its a downgrade from Silence Of The Lambs. I like the whole series with Hopkins. Hannibal Rising was a mess.

It was exciting to watch on the big screen: The opening action scene, the death of Pazzi, the city of Florence, it was all impressive looking. But story-wise, it was just so ridiculously over the top: the opening action scene, the group of pigeons that form Hannibal’s face before flying away, the disfigured super villain with the evil plan, Ray Liotta as the stereotypical corrupt bad guy, and then playing up Hannibal as almost an anti-hero. “He only eats rude people.”

All of Hannibal’s victims in the film “deserve” it. Mason Verger obviously, and even Pazzi, because he was motivated by greed to apprehend Lecter by himself. Again, he’s portrayed like an anti-hero, which seems less realistic and makes him less threatening.

The ending with Ray Liotta’s exposed brain just looked silly and stupid. It was definitely sleazy, but if you had to go that route, there probably would have been a better way to shoot that scene.

For me, the main reason was Julianne Moore. She's a fine actress, but she's not Clarice and had none of the chemistry Foster did with Hopkins. If Jodie Foster didn't want to return, they shouldn't have made it. But, that said, the story wasn't all that interesting, either. But the recasting of Clarice really took me out of it from the get-go.

It's a mediocre sequel. Red Dragon has its parts but Manhunter buries it. Hannibal Rising was garbage. Hannibal the television series was great, though.

Manhunter is better than all of them.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091474/

It was an OK movie but it was a big event picture that sort of fell flat in the second half.

I really like the movie a lot. I read the book when it came out and I think the movie improves upon it by using the best elements and getting rid of a lot of the crap (Vergers body building lesbian sister subplot).

The movie looks great and I enjoy a lot of the set pieces. People always seem to say they prefer Red Dragon to this, but I really didn't like that movie. I much preferred Michael Manns Man hunter adaptation. Plus Brian Cox as Hannibal Lektor was all kinds of fantastic. Hell I even thought Julianne Moore did as good a job as she could with pretty much an impossible situation. Gary Oldman as always was fantastic, even through all those prosthetics.

I never felt as terrified as I did while watching Silence of the Lambs.

That climactic dinner scene was amazing.

Plenty of good moments throughout (though I'm drawing a blank ... I haven't watched it in 10+ years).

The style and tone is exquisite. The classical music and delicate cinematography.

Because Jodie Foster is not in it.

I thought it was alright and not horrible.

the Jodie Foster recast primarily.

I still think Moore played not as good as Foster, certainly, but she did portray that coldness with bit of emotion, like Foster’s Clarice...

My list would go:
1. Silence of the Lambs
2. Hannibal
3. Manhunter
4. Red Dragon

I don’t consider those insipid prequels or whatever part of series. Never saw and have no intent.

Absolutely terrible.

And Red Dragon is much, much worse.

I've always thought of Hannibal as the best looking terrible movie ever made. I love Ridley Scott. I loved Thomas Harris' book. But there's something about Hannibal that's so empty and meaningless. Julianne Moore as Starling is one of the worst casting choices ever. And Moore's one of my favorite actors. But I guess some idiot said, "Oh! Hot actress! Let's put her in the hot project! Money, money, money!"

Demme's film worked so well because he was not a typical horror director. He made some of the greatest character based films of the 80s. Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling are great characters. Demme knew that, and he made their relationship (and conversations), the center of his film. It's bad enough that Hannibal jettisons the best aspect of its predecessor, but it can't come up with a reason to exist on it's own. Lecter's end in Silence was the perfect way to leave that character. If you feel the need to add to that, you goddamn well better have something to say.

Ridley Scott is not an actor's director. He mostly leaves the actors to themselves, while he focuses on the frame. That's okay, IF you cast the right person to start.

I do plan to give it another look at some point. In the meantime, I highly recommend the series that aired on NBC. Mads Mikkeksen has a very different take from Hopkins. They sort of take the plotlines from the books are remix them (except for Silence. Maybe they were waiting for season four). It's also a very food centered show, and you finally get to see Lecter as a therapist.

Oh, the series is amazing. I’ll never forget that last scene of the series and the one just prior, of course.

Never cared much for Jodie Foster. I probably enjoyed this one more because of her NOT being in it actually.