Hannibal

Anthony Hopkins is back as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, America’s most beloved cannibal, in director Ridley Scott’s sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, with FBI agent Clarice Starling played by Julianne Moore (Jodie Foster having wisely taken a pass). David Mamet and Steven Zaillian’s script (from Thomas Harris’ novel) is, like most sequels, even more baroquely absurd than the original, but more damaging is the fact that Lambs director Jonathan Demme (efficient, economical) has been replaced by the fussy, pictorial Scott—who is, as usual, more concerned with making pretty pictures than building suspense or sweeping us over the film’s absurdities. Hopkins performs with hammy relish, Moore looks hard and pasty-faced, and Gary Oldman contributes an uncredited turn as one of Lecter’s revenge-crazed victims.