Red Dragon

Edward Norton Week

                               

  August 15, 2011

Red Dragon:

Hannibal Lector is one of the most important characters in all of cinema. There have been 5 movies total made about him, 3 starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, 1 starring Brian Cox, and 1 prequel movie Hannibal Rising. Red Dragon was the third and final film to be made with Anthony Hopkins, and it is actually a prequel to Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. The movie also stars Edward Norton as Will Graham, an FBI agent investigating a serial killer by the name of the Tooth Fairy, played by Ralph Fiennes. It is actually one of the best films made about the Hannibal character.

Performances: Edward Norton is great as Will Graham; however the character is supposed to be almost close to being psychopathic which doesn’t show in his performance. However, Norton still plays the character well, and you can tell that he doesn’t want to have to deal with all of the horrible things that he takes care of and investigates. Anthony Hopkins is again terrific as Hannibal, the role of his career, and he is actually extremely scary in this one and you can tell that he is a psychopathic cannibal, unlike in Silence of the Lambs, where he seems much more like an antihero. Ralph Fiennes is also great as the Red Dragon, and he brings a level of innocence but also a level of brutality in this performance. Overall though, the best performance would have to be Norton, because when he is collaborating he doesn’t take crap from him, unlike Jodie Foster.

Plot: The movie opens with a scene where a young Will Graham discovers that Dr. Hannibal Lector is actually the cannibal that they have been looking for. He catches him and then retires, overall a good prologue for the movie. When Graham is hired to look into the Tooth Fairy case, he is not immediately happy, but when he is convinced it seems that he really does want to catch this killer. The best scenes in this film are still the scenes with Lector, because you can really tell that Anthony Hopkins is loving this role so much. They bring so much to the story, and you can actually tell the trouble that they go through to get to him. I would say one of the better scenes in the picture is when Ralph Fiennes kidnaps Philip Seymour Hoffman’s asshole reporter character, because it actually does seem quite scary what he is going through. A major problem that I have with the plot of this movie, however, is that it seems to have two endings, one where the Tooth Fairy seems to have killed himself, and another where he comes back and attacks Edward Norton’s family. Also, I don’t like the way that Edward Norton was talking to his son in that scene, because that just seems hurtful. But I also understand that he was doing it so that the Red Dragon would release him.

Entertainment: This movie is quite thrilling. Ralph Fiennes plays the deranged killer quite well, and the way that Edward Norton attempts to find him by using Lector is quite smart. I think probably the stand out scene in this movie is when the FBI goes through such lengths to get the letter that the Red Dragon sent to Lector, and also the fact that Lector gave him Graham’s address is quite scary. It just seems like Lector can actually find ways to get you from within his cell, that’s pretty creepy. I think the scariest scene in this film is when Hoffman is kidnapped by the Tooth Fairy, because Fiennes actually makes it seem like it hates this character with everything he has. It’s pretty damn scary. Overall this movie is actually quite entertaining, but some parts of the plot can get muddled.

Overall: This movie is great. It has three terrific main actors: Norton, Hopkins, and Fiennes, plus a good supporting cast. It is actually quite a scary movie, and some parts are hard to watch, especially the kidnapping scene. The only problem that I have with this movie is that some parts can get quite muddled and mixed up, especially the scenes with Fiennes’ girlfriend. Her character doesn’t make as much sense as it could of, however you can still tell that he is going through problems when he wants to save her. Also, the part with the family at the end didn’t work as well as it could have. I sometimes wish that they had left that out and just ended with the fire in the house and maybe one more scene with Lector. Overall though, this film was great with awesome performances and a pretty good plot and also some scary scenes that make for a really good viewing experience.

Overall Grade: B+