10 Greatest Ray Liotta Movies - Ranked
8. Hannibal
An example of Ray Liotta’s ability to improve fairly poor films can be found in Ridley Scott’s 2001 serial killer schlockfest, Hannibal.
A misguided effort for many reasons, it attempted to follow up a true great in Silence Of The Lambs ,only with inferior source material, no Jodie Foster, a bloated runtime, and a director without the restraint of Lambs’ Jonathan Demme.
That’s not to say there’s nothing to enjoy in Hannibal, though: namely, there’s Ray Liotta’s turn as corrupt federal official Paul Krendler. He’s hired by Gary Oldman’s demented Mason Verger to help capture Hannibal; needless to say, it doesn’t go too well.
Liotta is venal and thoughtless in his role as the slimy Krendler, consistently underestimating the well established supergenius of Hannibal Lecter. His tangling with the cannibalistic doctor leads to easily the most memorable scene in the film, in which Hannibal captures and drugs poor Paul before feeding him pieces of his own brain.
It’s not the kind of scene you run through in acting school, but Liotta manages to sell it. An opportunity most actors will never have.