Will the real Hannibal The Cannibal please stand up? Four actors have now taken on the role of the worlds most famous fictional cannibal - and seriously, with a name like that how was he supposed to turn out? Anthony Hopkins delivers what many consider to be the definitive Hannibal Lecter in classic thriller The Silence Of The Lambs. Its a mannered, almost pantomime performance, Hopkins Lecter winning the popular vote by a country mile and rendering the good doctor practically an anti-hero at the end of the film, youre left almost rooting for Lecter. The law of diminishing returns diminished Hopkins returns to the role in the vastly inferior sequel Hannibal and completely pointless prequel Red Dragon, however. The less said about poor Gaspard Ulliel in Hannibal Rising, the better: its a sad case of a great young actor unable to outrun a terrible, terrible movie. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen plays Lecter in the brilliant, operatic NBC television series that takes his given name, with the killer played as a demonic yet oddly melancholy grand manipulator. Yes, hes complex and fascinating, but truly monstrous? Probably not. So its Brian Cox performance as Doctor Lecktor in the original adaptation of the Red Dragon novel, Manhunter, thats left to truly unsettle and horrify the viewer. Unlike every other iteration, the brusquely avuncular Lecktor could easily be a real therapist (youd run a mile from Hopkins or Mikkelsen five minutes into the first consultation), and even in hospital whites, trapped behind omnipresent bars in a sterile room, Lecktor radiates a calm, slightly impatient aura: when he talks to Will Graham, he sounds like a medical professional taking a history, which is why his sudden question - Dream much, Will? throws you off. It brings everything flooding back: this is the man that broke Graham, the capture that should have made his career but instead retired him; this is the man that managed to gut him, literally and figuratively. When Lecktor tells Graham that he caught him because theyre so alike, hes not trotting out the usual supervillain nonsense hes deliberately, steadily reaching into an open wound and prodding at it. Hopkins Lecter says the same thing in Red Dragon, with his reptilian face and cultured, dead voice - but he clearly wants Graham to stay. Hes bored, and wants some company, someone to toy with: hes trying to create a bonding moment, and the additional, clumsily inserted scenes between Graham and Lecter later on in the film bear this out. Manhunters Hannibal Lecktor, on the other hand, practically throws a hyperventilating Graham out of his cell: telling him that if he wants to recover the scent, he should smell himself. Theres no cat and mouse here. Lecktor knows where Graham hurts worst, and mauls him just to see him writhe in pain.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.