Hannibal Rising (2007) Review

Hannibal Rising (2007) Review

For some reason, Hollywood thinks we need to see the origins of our favourite horror movie villains. It’s happened in numerous franchises, and practically never satisfies. I guess an origin story for Hannibal Lecter was inevitable—he’s one of the most interesting villains in all of fiction—but author Thomas Harris penned his prequel novel before the movie was made, so if it had the source material to work from, written by the man who created the character, then maybe, just maybe, it would turn out decent.

The movie begins in war-torn Lithuania, at Lecter castle, where little Hannibal lives with his mom and dad and sister, Mischa. They are forced from their home and take refuge in a remote lodge, where an attack leaves only Hannibal and Mischa alive, then a band of Nazis show up in the dead of winter and, in order to survive, resort to eating Hannibal’s sister. When he’s older, he ends up back at Lecter castle, but it’s become an orphanage, so he escapes to live with his aunt, Murasaki, in France, where he becomes a medical student. He develops a taste for murder, and flesh, and seeks to kill all the men who ate Mischa. 

I had heard nothing good about this movie, but as it began, I immediately noticed the eye for detail. The World War II setting in the first part of the film is quite well recreated—evident in how it could spawn a horrific serial killer—and from beginning to end, the time period is captured very convincingly. The cinematography is sharp and well-done, though not particularly exceptional, and the acting is good; there was no one performance that stood out to me as bad. The real problem with Hannibal Rising is the story. 

Hannibal Lecter is scary whether we know his backstory or not, but he isn’t any less scary because of it, so there’s no real loss or gain, which makes this whole thing largely inconsequential, but not pointless. The story could have been far more interesting than it was, but unfortunately, it’s really nothing more than a revenge tale, without anything that makes it too unique. In comparison to the movie Hannibal, though, it has fewer dumb moments, and achieves a more chilling atmosphere. It’s gory and violent and brutal, but far from the subtleties, complexities, and suspense of Silence of the Lambs or Red Dragon. 

After Anthony Hopkins had played Lecter three times, and made all three performances memorably scary, it was difficult to imagine anyone else in the role, but young French actor Gaspard Ulliel does a pretty good job. He revels in being evil. Some of his dialogue is hard to understand, at first, and he makes some weird faces, but when he tries to be intimidating, he is. Though it sometimes seems like he’s doing an impersonation of Hopkins playing Lecter, he still manages to make it his own. And yet, he isn’t able to make as memorable of an impression as Hopkins, simply by the nature of the screenplay.

The characters range from boring to downright despicable, but no one is there for the audience to root for. We’re supposed to sympathize with Hannibal, but he’s a monster who eats his victims, so, you can’t, really, and everyone else is so revolting, you want to see him kill them, but it never amounts to much. Even his aunt isn’t a good person, she’s in on Hannibal’s murders and covers for him. Without any one protagonist to latch onto, it makes the story harder to really get into. Hannibal is an anti-hero, which he sort of became after Silence of the Lambs, but at the end of the day, he’s a bad guy, plain and simple, so it doesn’t really work having him in the lead role.  

Aside from the story, nothing about Hannibal Rising is really bad, nor is it great. The direction, acting, production design, special effects, music, all of it is just…OK. And that’s the problem. The whole movie feels so benign. We know Hannibal will get revenge and kill everyone and get away with it by the end, because of the nature of it being a prequel, so it lacks that real good hook of uncertainty present in all of the other Hannibal Lecter films.  

Hannibal Rising isn’t a bad movie, but as far as recommending it, I think it really depends on your interest in the core concept. If you really want to know how Hannibal Lecter came to be, then yes, by all means, watch it. If you’d rather have it left a mystery, skip it, or if you don’t really care either way, then I would still say give it a pass. One could argue that it’s the worst in the franchise for a number of reasons, but I still wouldn’t call it a bad movie, just very average.