neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Red Dragon
	Brett Ratner Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman 2002		It's a remake. It's a prequel. It's close to surefire box-office dynamite: Anthony Hopkins reprises the role of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in a new version of the 1986 film "Manhunter." Based on the Thomas Harris novel "Red Dragon," "Manhunter" introduced the brilliant, sinister Lecter, as played by Brian Cox. Yet it was Hopkins' crucial portrayal of the fiend in the scary, successful movie of "Silence of the Lambs," the second Lecter tome by Harris, that birthed a franchise. Another sequel, "Hannibal," inspired a profitable film with Hopkins that was more horror comic book than taut psychodrama. This update of "Red Dragon" from director Brett Ratner is better than "Hannibal" and completes a Lecter trilogy starring Hopkins. (DVD box set, anyone?) The retold "origin" — the FBI agent (Edward Norton) who captured Lecter needs his help to stop another murderer — brings back some of the thrills, tragedy and morbid wit that marked the superior "Š Lambs." But Hopkins is now so familiar in the part, he's the devil you know too well to be frightened. With Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel and Emily Watson.