by B. Matteson

Created on: February 25, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

"Hannibal Rising"...and then Falling to a Horrible Death with a Thud in the Movie Theatre...

Who the hell is Gaspard Ulliel?

Someone who will never be allowed to grace an American film lead role ever again.

Thomas Harris isn't to blame. After authoring the long-awaited prequel of the Hannibal series, a look into the origins of the greatest and most charasmatic fictional killer of all time, Mr. Harris was tapped to do the screenplay as well. Is it the scripts fault, too? That all depends on whether or not you read the book. I did. It wasn't the script's fault. The book is virtually unchanged. That brings us to numero doce on the list of why this film failed horribly.

Peter Webber. Peter, Peter, Peter...His direction is unsure and completely useless. He has the France countryside and cityscape as the primary backdrops for a story of the origins of Hannibal Lector, does he utilize the scenery? No. He just adds color screens and calls it a day. Maybe a little more collabortion with cinemantographer Ben Davis (did you see "Layer Cake"? This guy knows what he's doing) could've helped elevate the visual aspects, but whatever happened, it went all wrong. Not to mention his OK for Ulliel, a French unknown, in the title role of a lifetime. Let's get back to Ulliel...

No charisma. No subtlety. No sophistication. Grant it, this is the beginning of Hannibal's persona, and I didn't expect to see the finished monster in all of it's supreme, sophisticated nuance and killing glee, but dammnit, the flashes written in the pages of Harris' novel are nowhere to be seen on screen. That is Ulliel's fault. I was looking, believe me. I was hoping for this young French actor to at least play by the numbers, just play what he read, but he didn't do that. Which brings me to the final person on the list of who to blame...

Anthony Hopkins. It is truly his fault why this film failed. Hopkins, no matter how hard he tries, will never be able to shed the skin of Hannibal Lector, and for better or worse, Hannibal Lector will never call an actor's skin home like it did in Sir Anthony's. Gaspard Ulliel could've done his best Hopkins impersonation (and there were a couple tries in the lad) but he would've only looked rediculous. Maybe that's why he chose to play it straight. He was afraid to go near the characterization. What Denzel did for Malcolm X, Sir Anthony did for Hannibal: he made the character untouchable. A portrayal perpetrated by anyone else will fail miserably. That is the truth.

So, I say farewell to the franchise, for this really is the end. And instead of going out with a curdling chuckle vibrating off the blood-stained teeth of Dr. Lector's evil grin, the end will forever be squared on the shoulders of Ulliel. A sorry end to the most un-apologetic killer in all fiction.

Learn more about this author, B. Matteson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.