Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Hannibal Rising

Top positive review

Good Start for a Serial Killer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 November 2015

I've seen all the Hannibal films - a couple of which are pretty iffy - but I was intrigued by the idea of finding out how he became what he was in later depictions. It kicks off when our "hero" is a mere lad at the end of the last war, and, well, goes downhill from there, morally speaking.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, which was suitably dark as befits the period in general, and the subject and story in particular. You can certainly see why he chose the path he did, and you get to see glimpses of what's to come. A morally nice lad moulded by his circumstances.

This makes a good link to the more famous films, though I cringe a little to think they might be tempted to make a link between this and "Silence of the Lambs" - it'd have to be done very well to get the balance right. For that I rather hope they don't bother.

This film is well worth the small entrance fee, as it fills in a number of gaps - whilst leaving the inevitable questions unanswered.

7 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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Rocketboy

not exactly the point

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 January 2021

A well made and entertaining movie, but I always feel that an iconic movie 'Silence of the lambs' should be protected from profiteering, this is a different theme altogether, this movie to Silence of the Lambs, is what Fantastic Beasts is to Harry Potter, use the name, drag them in. Why not simply make a complete new movie about a young boy traumatised by WWII events who seeks revenge. What's it got to do with Silence of The Lambs? nothing !
Jonathan Demme should be annoyed, but then Peter Webber did a good job.. confused

2 people found this helpful

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Alexander

Badly directed, acted and portrayed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 October 2021

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Overall was a pretty bad movie, had potential. Over-the-top acting (cringe-worthy at times) sudden changes in scenes and having to basically explain everything to the audience. Lacked more subtle approaches which would have given Hannibal a more intelligent, calm, and collective in line with giving a more psychological thriller feel.

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Silver

Revenge story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 November 2020

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could have been about any insane revenge person.......

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Faye

Disapointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2016

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Whilst an interesting story it lacks the intelligence and intrigue of lecter in silence of the lambs and hannibal, more gore than needed, overall not impressed and a disappointing end to the movies before, the books however are much better than any of the movies

2 people found this helpful

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4th Earl

Not good!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 December 2019

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The transfer to Blu Ray could have been A LOT better!

One person found this helpful

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russell clarke

Oh for the silence of the writer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 January 2008

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Slowly unravelling the motivations and psychology of a serial killing cannibal is a tough enough ask in written form where at least the characters internalised thoughts , motivations and conflicts can be made available to the reader. With a film however it's a trickier prospect and that is Hannibal Risings big problem. There is also the argument , and a pretty persuasive one at that , that monsters like Hannibal are born not made by early psychological trauma. Otherwise half the cast of this film would have turned out to be slavering psychopathic cannibals, although having said that a good many of them are which is where the narrative gets it's main characters formative stimulus from.
Young Hannibal( Aaron Thomas)lives with family in a castle in Lithuania in 1944 and is especially close to his younger sister Mischa( Helena Lia Tashkova) They are forced into a country retreat by the onset of fierce fighting between the Germans and Russian forces but when the parents and servants are caught between the opposing forces and killed the youngsters are left to fend for themselves. A gang of looting Lithuanian militia(Played by numerous British actors like Rhys Ifans and Kevin Mckid) find the house and with no rations are forced into an unspeakable act that will haunt young Lector for many years to come.
Here the plot takes one of those routes that could only happen in film. Lector now older and played by Gaspard Ulliel, after being saved by advancing Russian soldiers ends up in an orphanage conveniently located at his old home where he is able to retrieve some letters which lead to an address in Paris where resides his saucy widowed Japanese Aunt Shikibu (Gong Li). She takes him in and before long defending her honour he butchers errr a local butcher and is thus brought into contact with Inspector Popil (Dominic West) who is investigating war crimes and seems to be in the film only to show that not everyone who has seen or heard about atrocities goes loop the loop. But isn't that contradicting the films main assertion about Lectors character anyway? Anyhow Lector is soon at medical school dissecting cadavers with sibilant relish which explains his fascination and knowledge of anatomy but he still wants revenge for Mischa so undertakes to find and punish those responsible for her death. Needless to say these punishments are done with gratuitous imagination and help explain his predilection for eating human body parts.
Hannibal Rising is based on a novel by Thomas Harris who also wrote the screenplay presumably for a bucketful of cash because a cash cow is all that Lector seems to be for Harris nowadays . I haven't read the book . I will eventually mind and it's hard to imagine it being any worse than the preposterous Hannibal .This is also a better film than the adaptation of that novel but it's flaws are still numerous . Gaspard is a dreadfully unconvincing villain, all panto leers and side ways glances. If you though Anthony Hopkins camped it up as Lector you ai,nt seen nothing yet. He is meant to be terrifyingly sinister but just seems a little odd. There is none of the mesmerising mind games and cutting japes of the older Lector( Perhaps he developed that later) and the relationship with Shikibu is just weird . The film does peculiar things like have Lector put on a mask that brings to mind the hockey mask the FBI use on him for "Silence Of The Lambs" but that makes no sense as they put it on him ....unless he's so smart he became a serial killer knowing the feds would at some point in the future use one on him. It seems an awful lot of trouble to go to when you could just buy one in a sports store. Incidentally the film never explains how he's so smart and pre-emptive either. Hes,s a natural artist though so that's okay.
Sections of the film are actually quite well done , the war scenes are chillingly realistic and director Peter Webber knows how to stage exciting tense set pieces . But ultimately in trying to explain Lectors motivations and psychosomatic state the film robs him of his eerie otherworldliness, mystique and renders him far less terrifying than he was. Lector had something that other screen and print villains didn't ....a rapacious implacable intelligence allied to extreme savagery. Now he is just another bogeyman. Never mind the lambs being silent , what we could really have done with is the silence of the writer.

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Mainframe

Hannibal Rising - FRUSTRATINGLY ABRIDGED!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 April 2012

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Hannibal Rising was the best movie I've watched this last few years - thoroughly well done. 5/5 for the movie itself!

The reason I give this 2/5 is because, unbeknownst to me, this copy is ABRIDGED!!! TOTALLY FRUSTRATINGLY ABRIDGED.

BUY THE MOVIE - BUT NOT THIS WATERED DOWN COPY!

One person found this helpful

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dosn't matter who I am

I GAVE SERIOUS THOUGHT... TO TURNING IT OFF!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 May 2009

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I was expecting Hannibal Rising to be a great big action-packed thriller of a movie, and although it did have it's moments, it was overall not that good.
I thought it would have been better if it hadn't lasted for so long, I know they had a lot to fit it but over 2 hours is too long!
Anyway, I think it's worth watching for Hannibal Lecter fans, but nobody can beat Anthony Hopkins and it was quite a dull film!

One person found this helpful

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cassandra

not worthy of such an iconic villan.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 March 2013

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this movie gives no thanks to the chillingly brillant hannibal lecter. im sorry gaspard but no one can play dr lecter like anthony hopkins and someone else trying to is a little laughable.

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Sebastian Fernandez

"If he remembers too soon he will freeze inside forever"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 December 2007

When this book came out, I was really happy. A new novel about Dr. Lecter; just when it seemed that the story had ended. Rewarding the readers of the series with a prequel that would allow them to understand why this character behaved like he did was the perfect final touch. It is such a shame that this novel falls short in so many levels!

First of all, this is the first time that I have been bored by Harris' writing. There are a few passages that show glimmers of the writing genius present in the other novels, but most of it is unremarkably bland. But the fact that the author presents us with an avenger of evil deeds by others against Hannibal and his sister is even a bigger fault. This aspect basically negates the premise of the book, since this does not really explain the behavior we have seen from Dr. Lecter in the other works. I believe there is not much that is new in this book as it relates to Lecter's psyche, and the aspects of the story that we did not know beforehand, are not enough to keep our interest.

I never thought that I would find myself rating a book by this author so poorly, but he did not accomplish what he set out to do and the process of reading the novel was not even entertaining. That is why I have to recommend to everyone to stay away from this poor novel.

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Hannibal falling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2008

"Hannibal Rising" is a decent book, the film has reasonable cast and the whole shebang has obviously had quite a few quid thrown at it...so why doesn't it work? Well firstly, if anything, the movie is too faithful to Harris' text (it's practically page by page and exactly as I had imagined it)...which in itself shouldn't be a bad thing, but unfortunately as a result many of the scenes feel rushed and clunky. If you are going to do something this faithful it probably needs to be 180 rather than 105 minutes. As it is there's just too much going on to appreciate the production values. I wonder if this same criticism - lack of time - can be levelled at the entire production, because the cast don't seem comfortable with their dialogue. There are some ok actors on show here but they deliver lines with all the passion of Hayden Christensen in a Star Wars prequel. It's a pity because there's a good movie - "Hannibal" level anyway- struggling to get out.

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