![]() Manhunter whispers rather than shouts, and is all the more effective for it. But hints of Mann’s recent, brilliant The Insider abound, too - long, steady shots that add a terrifying stillness. And will we ever learn exactly what Lektor did to Will to wound him so? The suspense is delightfully excruciating.ĭirector Michael Mann was known chiefly as the creator of Miami Vice when Manhunter was released, and the visual influence of the TV show is unmistakable - the film’s bright colors and clean lines balance surprisingly well with the dark, cerebral horror of its subject matter. ![]() Cox, with much less screen time than Anthony Hopkins had in Lambs, is just as riveting, oozing malevolence as he and Will taunt each other, both with the same goal that neither dare articulate - securing Lektor’s assistance in finding the Red Dragon. Hannibal Lektor (Brian Cox: Nuremberg, Longitude) - inexplicably misspelled here - is in maximum-security custody, put there by Will, and the experience has left Will scarred, emotionally and physically. And the most electrifying moments come as Will has to face the man who drove him into retirement: Dr. This is a quiet, unshowy race-against-time flick, in which the ticking of the clock is measured more in Will’s intensifying attempts to retain his own sanity as he gets to know the mindset of his prey better and better.īased on Thomas Harris’s novel Red Dragon, the film’s title change is appropriate - a Chinese pictogram meaning “Red Dragon” comes to represent the killer, but the focus here is entirely on the man hunting him. The killer works on a lunar cycle, committing his crimes on the night of the full moon, which gives Will a little over three weeks to find him before he strikes again. It’s hard to believe that William Petersen didn’t become a bigger star than the character actor he is today - his almost Russell Crowe-like intensity is what keeps Manhunter so absorbing through its slow buildup, as Will joins the investigation and attempts to duplicate in his own head the psyche of a killer who slays entire families and rearranges the bodies to give himself an audience. Yet getting inside the heads of serial killers is what Will is good at, and he finds himself reluctantly drawn back to it. ![]() Will has been burned - badly - by some profiling experience in the past, something that put his wife and preteen son in danger as well. ![]() Petersen: The Contender), though a young man, has retired from the FBI, and there seems to be nothing his old boss, Agent Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina: Snatch, Reindeer Games), can do to convince him to come in on the tough new serial murder case with which the Bureau desperately needs his expertise. But, like The Silence of the Lambs, 1986’s Manhunter isn’t really about the notorious cannibal and serial killer - it’s about how his conscienceless psychopathy affects those around him, and how those who dare to take advantage of his genius find that the help he can provide in capturing others like him may not be worth the risk. No, this thinking man's actioner gives us the first full-fledged glance into the evil syndicate (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) that will reign terror right up until and including, well, 2015's Spectre.It’s sort of the lost Hannibal Lecter movie. Also, though SPECTRE received a mention from Dr. Though cheeky, From Russia with Love also marks the last time that Bond's spyware receives semi-serious handling before slowly descending into sometimes camptastic waters. In this spy caper set largely in Istanbul, James Bond (Connery) willingly falls into an assassination ploy involving a naive Russian beauty (Daniela Bianchi) in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by SPECTRE.įrom the train dust-up to the knife shoe fight to the speedboat chase, the Bond franchise also solidifies its place as an action lover's actioner series with this entry.the regrettable Gypsy girl fight notwithstanding. Now with Q and a menacing villain worthy of Bond's time and energy added into the mix (Robert Shaw), filmgoers witness one of the hottest and the most Nuclear Age-related of stories that the series ever produced (indeed, Broccoli felt that this was Fleming's best adventure). No, From Russia with Love one-ups its predecessor and sees Bond further earmark globetrotting adventure and many other motifs as franchise stalwarts. With the persona and tone already brilliantly established with Dr. A Love letter to 60s espionage in a franchise that was already off and running, the 2nd 007 adventure takes audiences From Russia and offers the only early Bond film that could also stand on its own as a standalone Cold War spy flick besting even John Le Carre.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |