Hey folks, Harry here with 4 looks at Brett Ratner's adaptation of RED DRAGON (some call it a remake of Michael Mann's MANHUNTER) and with divergent folks like Sgt Kabukiman, Vincent Gecko, The Power Broker and Edith Bouvier Beale, Jr. are all raving pretty strong about how much they enjoyed themselves at RED DRAGON last night. There are some spoilers ahead, so tread carefully, but it seems Ratner is a winner with this one....
Some spoilers, I’m sure:
RED DRAGON
I got to see a special advance screening of Red Dragon and the movie does not disappoint, well, it didn’t disappoint me anyway. This flick turned out to be my favorite Hannibal Lechter movie yet. Don’t get me wrong, Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal are both probably actually BETTER movies, but Red Dragon was much more fun and appealing to me.
What sets it apart the most is the sheer amount of laughs it produces. The film is far too funny for it’s own good. It’s not stupid funny, either, or bad funny. All the jokes are completely intentional and totally believable in the context of the film. They didn’t turn the movie into a comedy either, it’s just that when compared to the other Hannibal films, this one has far more great laughs, mostly due to great performances and dramatic irony. I don’t want to turn anyone off to flick by saying that it’s funny, it’s not light in tone, but viewers are going to be pleasantly pleased by the well-executed humor.
The direction was rather strait-forward and I felt this film was better paced than Manhunter. All the performances were top-notch. Edward Norton and Harvey Keitel are always great. Philip Seymour-Hoffman plays a ridiculously sleazy tabloid journalist. Emily Watson is completely convincing as a near-miss Tooth Fairy victim and Ralph Feinnes disappears in the role of the Red Dragon serial killer. For those nay-sayers who wonder if this film was really necessary with the perfectly fine film Manhunter already in existence, their answer is a resounding “yeah.” The movie was much more a prequel to SotL and Hannibal than a remake to the very dated Manhunter.
As much as I enjoyed the movie, I can’t say that it’s completely flawless. The most glaring problem is the opening sequence. Although it’s great to see Hannibal up and about and feeding people human flesh in elaborate meals before he’s imprisoned, his capture at the hands of Ed Norton feels a little hokey and tacked on, don’t be surprised if this does not make the final cut. I’m glad I saw the sequence because it was pretty damn cool and I’d always wondered about the details of how Hannibal was first caught and imprisoned to begin with, but that could have been a whole other film instead of a quickie pre-opening credit sequence. Ralph Fiennes was perhaps a little miscast as well. He puts in a great performance but physically doesn’t fit as well as someone like, say Vincint D’onofrio might. I can foresee professional reviewers panning the film when comparing it’s (pre)sequels. It doesn’t quite have the drama and heaviness of the other films, but it makes up for this in sheer coolness.
The sequences with Ed Norton and Anthony Hopkins in an exact clone of the SotL prison set are easily the most entertaining filmed. The chemistry between the two is great. I should probably write something about the thrills in the film. Personally, as a movie-watcher, I never get scared or jumpy when watching movies, but the rest of the 900+ some people at the Zeigfeld were “ooh”ing and “ahh”ing and jumping and getting startled at all the appropriate moments of which there were a bunch. The violence and gore is all top-notch, there’s more on screen than SotL but not the ridiculous amount as seen in Hannibal.
Some dude told us that we were the first audience to see the movie before it began but what we saw sure felt like a final finished product. With the possible exception of the opening sequence mentioned above, I doubt there will be much change between now and the street release date. And sequence is good enough that I’m sure they’ll probably include in the final film, though you never know what those test audiences are going to write on those cards. All in all, hardcore fans and purists will probably be disappointed by this prequel, but then again, aren’t they always? For kids like me, that can appreciate a fun cool film that’s not going to win any Oscars, this one’s not to be missed on the big screen.
-Vincent Gecko
And now for the amazingly bizarre... Edith Bouvier Beale, Jr...
Hey, Harry and gang!! This is “Edith Bouvier Beale, Jr.”
I last wrote a tear-soaked email praising THE HOURS (which is perfect, there’s not one bad thing I can say about it... go Oscar for Julianne Moore), but I write to you tonight regarding a RED DRAGON screening that went down tonight at the Ziegfeld in New York. In attendance were Brett “Studio 54” Ratner, Dino “Look at my young wife” Di Laurentiis, The Young Wife (I get the impression from the HANNIBAL dvd that I’d really like her) and a very creepy Ralph Fiennes who seemed nice enough when people stopped him for a hand shake.
I love both SILENCE and HANNIBAL. I love SILENCE for its inspired grit (and Jodie Foster) and the incredibly misunderstood HANNIBAL for being a brilliantly perverse trashy love story. RED DRAGON tries to embrace both the rawness and the campiness at the same time, and comes off as the bastard child of the first two movies. It’s not at all a bad movie-- it’s really quite entertaining and ends with the perfect note-- but it’s not quite right either.
Ed Norton stars as Will Graham, the FBI Agent who first captured Lecter (we see that... and it’s dumb). It’s years after said capture and he now has to catch the laughably named “Tooth Fairy” (Fiennes... so creepy) who murders picture-perfect families, rapes the wives and replaces everyone’s eyes with bits of mirror. Graham has to leave his wife (Mary-Louise Parker... someone put her in the PROOF movie) and son to go catch the killer. That’s the blah part. That’s the part that plays unevenly, volleying between thrills and winking at the audience jokes. Norton’s quite good, though.
The part that makes this movie awesome is the alternate plot (or, the real plot I suppose) in which a blind Emily Watson falls for Fiennes, her coworker, not knowing about his hobbies on the side. The tentative romance between a mass murder with performance issues and a trampy blind girl is not only sweet in a bizarre way but also enlivened by the two performances. Fiennes struggles with himself over Watson-- Should he marry her or set her on fire? Watson is transcendent, making even the dumbest lines gems. She’s one of the best actresses working today, and she gets to show off and have fun with this role. Let’s hope Oscar comes a knockin for PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE!
Which brings me to Sir Anthony. Goodness. I guess he’s trying to give people what they want to see, but... Ick. The best analogy is that kid from the Dell commercials. At first he was funny and charming and whatever. At first. But then maybe he watched the commercials and became so aware of what he does that it degrades into parody. This Hannibal is more campy drag queen that a real danger. What’s he gonna do? Sip his wine and make another witty, urbane comment? Yikes!
To make a long story short, RED DRAGON is quite good, not great, but it’s probably exactly what it should be. It’ll make bajillions of dollars no matter what, so whatever.
Best, EDIE :-)
PS-- Look out for Mary-Louise towards the end. She kicks ass!! The whole
time, I kept wondering what she was doing in this cameo role, and then she
makes me remember why she’s the shit.
Can a talk backer explain the phrase, "Red Dragon is so much like SILENCE OF THE LAMBS that it is like TEEN WOLF 2" to me? Here's Power Broker... who will singlehandidly exonerate Martha Stewart... Ok... well he won't, but he sold his stock in her early!
Power Broker here with a review of Red Dragon…
Had the esteemed privilege tonight of being a member of the first audience, or so we were told, to screen Red Dragon. Dont you wish you lived in New York City?
First off, let me commend Universal Pictures (yeah, I know you’re reading this smart guys) for choosing the Ziegfeld Theater on 54th Street in Manhattan for the test screening. It was my first visit to the relic, a throwback to when “going to the movies” was a unparalleled family outing. The theater seats so many, the line to get in reached out of sight. Compared to a recent screening of “Dirty Pretty Things” at a Loews on the Lower East side, well, there is no comparison. I hear there is a second screening of Red Dragon tomorrow night (Friday, Sept. 13), so if you live in New York City, you might want to get your ass down there.
On to the movie…
I really wanted to enjoy this picture. Like the rest of America, I was let down by Hannibal. But like watching an elegant train wreck in slow motion, we all turned up in droves to see what Ray Liotta’s brain looked like, how killer pigs factored into the equation, and how Darren #2 would fill Clarice Starling’s size 8 government issues. I suspect many ticket buyers just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Over $200 million later, it didn’t seem to matter much in retrospect that Jodie Foster wouldn’t have Hannibal’s love child.
Red Dragon starts off on the right foot. Hannibal Lechter. Symphony concert. Dinner party. Mystery meat. Anthony Hopkins must love this role. Like Jack Nicholson wielding an axe, Hopkins just “gets” the whole crazy-and-loving-it shtick. Edward Norton’s Will Graham is teaming up with Lechter to solve a mysterious string of murders. If you want more details, read the book. Everything that’s up on the screen is in the book, Harry Potter style.
Red Dragon is so much like Silence of the Lambs, it’s almost on par with Teen Wolf II. Only, we don’t get a scared little upstart fibbie with something to prove, we get a scarred veteran detective with something to prove. Norton is one of my favorite actors, but he isn’t given much to work with here. He’s the straight man to Lechter, and later Ralph Fiennes’ Francis Dolarhyde, and basically underplays everything. The audience isn’t pulling for him. He’s neither scared enough (ala Starling) nor bold enough to get the audience behind him. Rather, I found myself twiddling my thumbs waiting for Hannibal to show up again.
Mind you, Lecter is again behind bars for 95% of the film, so it’s all one-on-one conversations across bullet-proof glass. He’s in the same cell as in Lambs, with the same nervous psychologist watching over him, which played well with the audience. Hopkins’ barrel-chested Hannibal Lecter drew a ridiculous amount of laughter. His quips no longer make you grin despite yourself but laugh out loud with nervous energy. He’s the Joker to Norton’s Batman, no longer a true villain but instead a guilty pleasure.
Fiennes’ does an adequate job. I was never really creeped out or scared of his character. A run-of-the-mill psychopath without a sense of humor. He’s one part Norman Bates, one part Kevin Spacey’s serial murderer in Seven, and one part psycho college roommate. Based on the gruesome murders he commits earlier in the movie, I expected something grander. Instead, we get the mumbly equivalent of tepid oatmeal. The scene at the Brooklyn Museum got the crowd going, though I think it had more to do with it being in the Big Apple.
The stand-out here is Emily Watson as Reba McClane. She does blind, with those beautiful, enormous eyes, so captivatingly, I found myself watching her during her scenes with Fiennes’ Dolarhyde. She was an interesting character, perhaps the boldest thing about this picture. I can’t wait to see what she does in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love. I have to imagine she’ll hold her own with Adam Sandler, especially if Sandler does his scenes in the nude with a gigantic back tattoo and a hairlip.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman is such a ham, but you gotta love him for it. Unfortunately, as readers of the book know, his character has a brief amount of screen time. He makes the most of it as smarmy tabloid reporter Freddy Lounds.
Didn’t Harvey Keitel do this character before? Nah, I’m sure I’d remember it. Wait, was it in Sister Act? No, he was doing his bad guy character in that. Never mind.
Hey, I enjoyed the movie. But this is a mass appeal remake, virtually guaranteed to make more than was spent on it. Everyone seems to be on board to rake in the big pay check. Oh well. Maybe Thomas Harris will write a new book about Hannibal Lechter’s years as a failed stand-up comic. Just put him on the screen for two straight hours. That’s what we’re all there to see, isn’t it?
- The Power Broker, making back room deals and changing the landscape
Now for the greatest of all crime fighters... Sgt Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.!!! Kabukiman loved it!
Greetings everyone! I was one of the lucky 700 warm bodies that got to witness the sheer brilliance of Red Dragon this evening in NYC. Now I will warn you, I am not the most articulate person in the world but I had to share my feelings on this film with all of you whom I read daily. So here is the straight skinny...
I arrived at around 5:30 to a line that was already a good block from the Zeigfeld theater on 54th Street and you could feel that everyone in the crowd was extremelly excited for what we were about to see. After many cigarettes and an argument with some prissy rich bitch on line the doors finally opened and we were poured in by the literal hundreds into what I feel is the greatest theater in the city. Once the theater filled up and the chatter died down a gentleman appeared at the front of the theater thanking all of us for coming and explaining to us that we were THE FIRST AUDIENCE to see this film! I was stoked! I was squirming in my seat already!
After the obligitory "this film isnt finished yet yada, yada, yada" the lights finally dimmed and the opening credits started....the theater was erupting already, and this was just the credits. What ensued next were two of the most pleasurable hours of film entertainment Ive had since BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF.
Now, I am not going to give anything away but I just wanted to touch breifly on the performances and the picture itself. First off, the cinematography was gorgeous, everything flowed seamlessly from scene to scene and some of the dramatic jumps were so dramatic that the entire theater would leap from thier seats in unison. The score, though they claimed it was temorary, is classic Danny Elfman and the dialog and story follow surprisingly close to the book itself. The performances were stellar, especially Ralph Fiennes as the Red Dragon himself. Of course Anthony Hopkins stepped back in as Hannibal with apparently no difficulty at all and Ed Norton was excellent as the retired FBI agent Will Graham. On top of that the supporting cast all gave great performances and it was most enjoyable seeing Barny and Dr. Chilton back again for another go.
I know this is a pretty vague explaination but I seriously dont want to ruin this for those of you who are going to be seeing this film. I will say that in my humble opinion that it was by far the best in the series. It was a very compelling ride up until the moment the ending credits rolled. My hat goes off to the makers of this film and a big standing ovation for the actors who made this movie one of my favorites of 2002. Bravo.
Sgt. Kabukiman
