Hannibal Rising… or is that sinking?
Well, it seems that Dino De Laurentiis is determined to milk the Hannibal Lecter gravy train for all it’s worth, and this time he’s managed to rope the character’s creator, reclusive novelist Thomas Harris, in to help out. Harris’s latest novel, Hannibal Rising, recently went on sale (I saw various displays promoting the hardcover edition while I was out and about today, but baulked at the price tag), and a film of the same name, written by Harris himself (it’s unclear whether the film is based on the book, or vice versa, or a combination of the two), is due to be released in cinemas in February 2007. The first trailer is now available at Tobis (the on-screen text is in German, but there is no dialogue in the teaser itself), and it looks like a cash-in of the highest order.
I’ve liked all of the previous Lecter films to some degree, from the masterful Hannibal to the workmanlike but effective Red Dragon (I’d need to see Michael Mann’s take on that particular tale, released as Manhunter, again to solidify my opinions on that venture), but this one just doesn’t look particularly inspired. Admittedly, it’s hard to get much of an idea of anything from a trailer, and a brief teaser at that, but a glance at the synopsis on IMDB isn’t exactly filling me with hope. Who really needs “Hannibal: The Teenage Years”, where we get to see the horrific events that shaped him into the vicious serial killer he is today? The tantalising glimpses of that in the novel of Hannibal (omitted from the film itself) were plenty, and I personally think these elements of his character work better if they’re hidden away in the shadows rather than out in the open.
I’ll probably end up seeing this film, if only for completeness’ sake, but my expectations are pretty low.
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