10 Most Disappointing Movie Reboots Since 2000
1. Red Dragon
The first three Hannibal Lecter movies were directed by four-time Oscar nominee Michael Mann (Manhunter), Oscar winner Jonathan Demme (The Silence Of The Lambs) and four-time Oscar nominee Ridley Scott (Hannibal). Which filmmaker did the producers choose to helm this reboot? Brett Ratner, who made the Rush Hour movies with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan.
The results are as soulless and uninspired as you’d expect from the director of X-Men: The Last Stand. Each of the main characters has their back story spelled out for the viewer, most tediously in an opening sequence where FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) discovers evidence that suggests kindly Dr Lecter might not be all he appears to be.
Manhunter was fresh and gripping back in 1986, but Red Dragon has no more ambition than to tick off boxes as it rushes through the by now very familiar material. It’s slickly made, but whenever the material strives to reach the same notes as its predecessor you’re reminded that Brett Ratner is no Michael Mann.
Interesting footnote: Mann doesn’t have a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, but Ratner does. He joins such distinguished entertainers as Kevin Spacey and Donald Trump.