Hannibal (film)

 

Hannibal (film)

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For the television series, see Hannibal (TV series). For the historical film, see Hannibal (1959 film).

Hannibal
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ridley Scott
Produced by	Ridley Scott Dino De Laurentiis
Screenplay by	David Mamet Steven Zaillian
Based on	Hannibal by Thomas Harris
Starring	Anthony Hopkins Julianne Moore Gary Oldman Ray Liotta Giancarlo Giannini
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Cinematography	John Mathieson
Editing by	Pietro Scalia
Studio	Scott Free Productions
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	February 9, 2001 (2001-02-09)
Running time	131 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Italian
Budget	$87 million
Box office	$351,692,268

Hannibal is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed by Ridley Scott, adapted from Thomas Harris' novel of the same name. It is a sequel to the 1991 Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs that returns Anthony Hopkins to his iconic role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Julianne Moore co-stars, taking over for Jodie Foster in the role of U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent Clarice Starling.

Set ten years after The Silence of the Lambs, the film revolves around Starling's attempts to apprehend Lecter before his surviving victim, Mason Verger, captures and kills him. The film's locations alternate between Italy and the United States. The film's development drew a large amount of attention, with The Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme, screenwriter Ted Tally and actress Jodie Foster all eventually declining involvement.^[1] Upon release, Hannibal broke box office records in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom in February 2001.^[2]

 

Plot

Ten years after tracking down serial killer Jame Gumb, F.B.I. Special Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) is unjustly blamed for a bungled drug raid. Starling and her connection to Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) come to the attention of Lecter's only surviving victim, Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), a wealthy child molester whom Lecter left horribly disfigured and paralyzed after having been assigned as Verger's court-appointed therapist.

Verger uses his immense wealth and political influence to have Starling reassigned to Lecter's case and meets with her in his mansion. Verger is pursuing an elaborate scheme to capture, torture, and kill Lecter, and hopes Starling's involvement will draw him out. Indeed, Lecter sends her a taunting letter after learning of her public disgrace. Though the letter contains no clue to Lecter's whereabouts, Starling detects a strange fragrance that a perfume expert later identifies as a bespoke skin cream whose ingredients are only available to a few shops in the world. She contacts the police departments of the cities where the shops are located, requesting surveillance tapes. one of the cities is Florence, Italy, where Chief Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini) is investigating the disappearance of a library curator. Pazzi questions Lecter, who is masquerading as "Dr. Fell", the assistant curator and now caretaker of the library.

Upon recognizing Dr. Fell in the surveillance tape, Pazzi accesses the F.B.I.'s ViCAP database of wanted fugitives. He learns of Verger's US$3 million reward to anyone turning Lecter over to him rather than to the F.B.I. Lured by Verger's bounty, Pazzi ignores Starling's warnings against trying to capture Lecter alone. He recruits a pickpocket to obtain a fingerprint of Lecter to show as proof of Lecter's whereabouts and thus collect the reward. Lecter mortally wounds the pickpocket, who nonetheless manages to get the print and provide it to Pazzi, who in turn contacts Verger. Lecter then baits Pazzi into an isolated room of the library, ties him up with electrical cords, and hangs and disembowels him, before escaping back to the United States.

Verger bribes U.S. Justice Department official Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) to accuse Starling of withholding a note from Lecter, leading to her suspension. Lecter lures Starling to Union Station but Verger's men, who have followed Starling, capture Lecter and transport him to Verger. When her superiors refuse to act, Starling, on her own initiative, infiltrates Verger's estate. Verger means to have Lecter eaten alive by a herd of wild boars bred specifically for this purpose. Starling intervenes to free Lecter but is herself wounded, and Lecter rescues her from the voracious animals. Verger furiously orders his private physician Cordell (Željko Ivanek) to shoot Lecter, but instead Lecter persuades Cordell to throw his hated employer into the pen, where he is eaten alive by the boars.

Lecter takes a sedated Starling to Krendler's secluded lake house and treats her wounds. When Krendler arrives for the Fourth of July break, Lecter subdues and drugs him. Starling, disoriented by morphine and dressed in a slinky black velvet cocktail dress, awakens to find Lecter cooking and Krendler in a wheelchair seated at the table set for an elegant dinner. Weakened by the drugs, she looks on in confusion and horror as Lecter removes the top of Krendler's skull, cuts out part of his prefrontal cortex, sautées it, and feeds Krendler his own brain.

After the meal, Starling tries to attack Lecter but he quickly overpowers her. She manages to handcuff his wrist to hers, and with police incoming to the residence, Lecter brandishes a meat cleaver and severs his left hand to escape. Lecter is later seen on a flight with a boxed lunch on his pull-down table. As he prepares to eat his meal, including a small cooked portion of what is assumed to be Krendler's brain, a young boy seated next to him asks to try some of his food. Lecter lets the boy eat some of his lunch, telling him that "it is important... to always try new things."