Hannibal Rising (2007)

Why did they make a prequel? I mean expect for the money? Five years after the last film about Hannibal, why try to explain? We find ourselves with a film that makes us have pity for Lecter at first, we even have a rather shady moment when we understand by their looks that they will eat his sister but was it we wanted? Get the explanation of the cruelty of Lecter? Personally I would have liked to have the memory of "Hannibal the Cannibal" inhabited by an unexplained and inexplicable cruelty, not an Hannibal of which one has pity! This film is really not terrible and 4/10 is still well paid, it is not by showing cannibalism that we make a good film about Dr. Hannibal Lecter! Why a fuc*ing prequel??

... Firt off, never ever "not" watch a movie because, of ratings. So many times I have found delight in movies that I passed up because of other people. This will be the review you want. This movie got bad ratings because, of acting, drawn out, and because, people felt a classic should not have a prequel..Sorry, they could not be more than wrong about this. This movie has that grotesque "it" factor that any Hannibal movie goer dreams of. Not only that it has war, blood, guts, tells the story in a GREAT pace! You could not ask for a better prequel. The acting that Gaspard Ulliel shows off is one in a million. Just like rain man their could not be a better person to do this film. He is a psychopath, of course he is going to act weird and disturbed. From the opening to the constant nightmares, to the drug induced dreams to over come his flashbacks, and to the revenge of deaths at the hand of a mastermind. Its simply fantastic pace. The dirty grim-my Germany and France scenes are Amazing coming from an American with such movies as Saving Private Ryan or Apocalypse Now... Think of this movie as a war ridden "NO MANS LAND" with a touch of intellectual landscape. Each scene has its stay and not one feels like it is out of touch. The music is rich with the original silence of the lambs and fits again with the landscape of post war living. .. Watch. This. Movie! I cannot say much more about that. Have fun and remember movies are a way for us to escape to be someone we are not just for a few minutes of our lives. Enjoy 9/10 stars!

Hannibal Rising (2007) * (out of 4) Prequel traces the early years of Hannibal Lecter who sees his killed during WWII but even more horror follows when his young sister is killed and eaten by some soldiers. Flash forward several years and Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) seeks revenge against the men.HANNIBAL RISING was the fourth (and to date) and final film in the Lecter series that started with THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and continued with HANNIBAL and RED DRAGON. Those three films were all box office hits and critical favorites but this film here seems to be one that nobody really wanted. I idea of doing a prequel to Lecter's early days was interesting but sadly there's not a single thing that works in this picture. I really, really hated this movie with a passion and I grew to hate it even more as its already long 130 minute running time went by.There were several problems that I had with the film including the fact that I just never thought this Lecter was believable in that he would turn into the Lecter of the previous three films. I thought Ulliel was pretty boring in the lead role and I just never believed we were watching a brilliant psychopath. Another problem I had with the film is that the story itself was just downright stupid. I mean, it's basically just a revenge picture but it's already weak story just keeps dragging along to the point where I was looking at the clock after ever five minutes.Even worse is the fact that there's just no energy, no passion and no scares to be found anywhere. I'm really not sure what Thomas Harris was thinking on this prequel but it's a complete and utter failure that doesn't have much going for it.

Yes, it does not have the vibe "The Silence of the Lambs" had, yes it is bloody and brutal, but that is the whole point, it doesn't need to be insanely complex or psychologically thrilling, this movie is meant to be completely different, this is what everybody was always curious about. We all loved Lecter and his mysterious presence, but for all these years nobody knew how he began his cruel ways, in this movie everything unfolds and it really adds to the franchise. So what that it is bloody? From what we have heard in previous films all of them would have needed to be as bloody as this one, since Lecter is considered to be an incredibly sick serial killer, who also, appears to be a cannibal and that is exactly what is showed here. In my opinion Gaspard Ulliel did an awesome job as Hannibal Lecter, he had the vibe of the older version of Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, of course. This is a decent way to revitalize the franchise, so we are not out of hopes for seeing a sequel to 2001's "Hannibal", Lecter films are not quick to come out and are all in a strange order as we know, so this lays the ground for a new film, maybe in 2020? Who knows.Overall it is very entertaining, shows us what people were eager to know about Hannibal Lecter, his roots, reasons, etcetera. Delivers suspense for sure, isn't just a blatant killer movie, has decent acting. The only weakness in my opinion was how they decided to incorporate different countries here, but everybody seems to speak English fluently, even in 1952 Russia :D I know it sounds funny, but nonetheless, it is worth watching, that is the only notable flaw.