8 Sequels Ruined By Idiotic Changes To The Original Concept

8. Hannibal Wasn't A Psychological Thriller

The Silence of the Lambs was a significant box office and critical success, but the sequel suffered from not realising what made the film so great in the first place.

Anthony Hopkins won a Best Actor award for his brilliant portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in the original, but he was not actually the protagonist, this instead falling on the shoulders of Det. Clarice Starling, brilliantly portrayed by Jodie Foster. What made the original film the modern day masterpiece it is, was the battle of wills between the demented genius Lecter and the innocent, vulnerable, yet courageous Clarice.

The film is all about Clarice overcoming her fears, dealing with past traumas so she can effectively manage the threat she faces in the present day. Hannibal is representative of this fear; a brooding, scary monster of a man who Clarice must confront to move on with her life and stop the chaos occurring around her.

The problem with the sequel, Hannibal, is that the film becomes more of a study of Lecter and loses its edge as a psychological thriller.

While the prequel Red Dragon made a better fist of things, Hannibal leaves us with too much time to spend with a man who actually has very little interest to the audience without Clarice to chastise. Yes, he’s a cannibal, but it was this combined with his ability as a master Psychologist that made the original film so interesting in the first place.

The movie reverts to quirky lobotomy scenes and places Clarice as a secondary character resulting in the whole thing falling flat, when what we really want is Clarice engaged in more psychological battles with the most infamous of cannibals.