Manhunter

Manhunter (Director’s Cut)

Michael Mann could possibly be the greatest director who ever lived who has only directed a relative handful of great films (and a few bad ones). This 1986 release, forever known as the “first” Hannibal Lecter movie (even though Lecter only gets about 10 minutes of screen time and is played by Brian Cox instead of Anthony Hopkins) and later remade as the terrible Red Dragon, shows Mann’s deft touch at sucking in a viewer during the opening minutes with hypnotic music and gorgeous cinematography, then proceeds to give us a thriller that ranks among the best of the 80s and is arguably better in some ways then even Silence Of The Lambs. Much of that comes down to Cox’s style of playing Lecter: Instead of Hopkins’ over the top theatrics and showmanship in the role that earned him an Oscar, Cox is more subtle and plays Lecter strictly close to the vest, making him come off as more of an actual, realistic human being (and thus scarier) than the maniac who rants about fava beans with a fixed eye gaze. In some ways, we feel like we’re watching the ACTUAL Hannibal The Cannibal whereas Hopkins felt like we were watching an (excellent) cinematic portrayal, as we KNOW who Lecter is and what he’s done, but seeing him as a CALM well-spoken individual definitely adds to the creep value. Unlike Red Dragon, which shoved Hopkins’ Lecter in our face at every opportunity, Mann remembers that Lecter is merely a side character here, and rightly puts the focus on FBI profiler Will Graham (CSI’s William Petersen, who brings a world-weariness to the part that Ed Norton never could) as he takes on the new challenge of tracking down the “Tooth Fairy”, a.k.a. Francis Dollarhyde, a psycho who breaks into families’ houses while they sleep and slaughters them in unspeakable ways. As Petersen shows both the past and present trauma he suffers from as he engages in his work, which involves getting in the killer’s head and actually, painfully emphasizing with his prey, the performance gains headway as both a fascinating figure and as a genius who figures out clues that the conventional authorities have missed. As the killer Dollarhyde (who shares a penpal mentor-like relationship with Lecter) Tom Noonan in some aspects is the only part of the film whose contribution was quite nearly matched by Ralph Fiennes’ peerless work in Dragon, but the fact is it’s really a tossup: Noonan is an absolute monster in appearance and demeanor, but he also succeeds in generating sympathy for his character’s tortured soul without taking it too far, something that the filmmakers just about made the mistake of doing when it came to Fiennes. Other roles include Kim Griest as Graham’s wife doing a fine job of showing the unconditional love she has for her husband while still worrying about his physical and mental health; Joan Allen as the blind woman who embarks on a relationship with Dollarhyde not knowing what a fiend he really is, and the scene where he takes her on a date to see a tiger under anesthesia is as stunning as it was in Dragon, if not more so; Dennis Farina rocking the house in his usual style as a kick-ass Jack Crawford; and Stephen Lang as the sleazebag reporter whom Graham uses to try to set a trap for Dollarhyde but instead sees things end very badly for him, plus we even get Frankie Faison (best known as Barney the hospital attendant in the Hopkins trilogy) keeping the tradition alive in a bit part here. Mann utilizes another one of his patented electronic soundtracks to near perfect effect to set the mood in nearly every scene, so as the story and suspense builds, so does the emotion in the viewer, as we come to CARE about the main character and whether he’ll come back from this in one piece physically or emotionally, all up to the final confrontation, where Mann uses jump cuts to create a sudden, jarring effect to the violence, before the final scene which practically defines the term life-affirming. Overall, a tense, moody, suspenseful masterpiece, which must be seen by everyone as the TRUE first chapter in the Hannibal Lecter trilogy and not the cheesy, Hollywood-style version we got later…

10/10

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