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Manhunter
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by MGM (Video & DVD)
Sales Rank: 6679
Price: $13.49
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Witness the birth of evil. This eerie, very intense (New York) thriller from writer-director Michael Mann (Heat, The Insider) first introduced the world to the cunning, unforgettable serial killer named Hannibal. Joan Allen and Stephen Lang co-star in this dark locomotive ofa film (Los Angeles Times) that promises to keep viewers riveted (Time)!Former FBI profiler Will Graham (William Petersen, CSI ) reluctantly returns to his old job to track a horrific serial killer known as the 'tooth Fairy. But in order to get into the mind of this maniac, Graham must face another: Hannibal, the imprisoned psychiatrist whose own insanity almost cost Graham his life and whose insights into the Tooth Fairy could prove as dangerous as the killer himself.
Viewer Reviews
When it comes to the "serial killer genre," I suppose Michael Mann's 1986 film "Manhunter" began it all. One could argue for Richard Fleischer's superb The Boston Strangler in 1968, but no matter. Mann's tight and stylish version of Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon is a thoroughly fascinating work. To this day, I recall the terror felt during the early sequence when Will Graham (William Petersen) investigates the blood-soaked crime scene alone, practically whispering his version of the events into a tape recorder. It's a deeply chilling segment, and one of the first times I can recall such an investigative process shown on film.
Mann, early in his career here, still had his trademark Miami Vice: Season One & Two touches, stark colors, unique MTV-styled camera angles and the insertion of pop music at unexpected moments. The technique has dated the film, though his use of Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is brilliant.
I have grown to like Petersen as he's aged as an actor, but in "Manhunter," he was a bit too young and bland for my taste. I would have liked to seen a more established, brooding actor in the role. But the supporting cast, including Dennis Farina, Stephen Lang and Joan Allen, never disappoint. Tom Noonan gives a haunting performance as the hunted serial killer, but his work is so good it threatens to capsize the film. He does not enter the proceedings until midway in, and the film changes course en route to the shocking climax. His struggles are heartbreaking, and it puts an uncomfortably human face on a terrifying monster. But once the film changes focus, and a face is put to the killer, much of the suspense and fear of the investigation is lost.
I have never liked how the police arrive at the exact moment Noonan's character is about to commit a murder, and his house, an isolated structure that looks as if it were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, does not fit such a lonely and disturbed man. But this was 1986, and back then we were dancing to Rio by Duran Duran with Patrick Nagel prints hanging on the wall. So who am I to blame Mann for wanting to be hip?
"Manhunter" is perhaps best known for having the first film version of the Hannibal Lecter character, played with extraordinary coolness by Brian Cox. It results in pretty much just an extended cameo, but the scene plays with uncommon menace. Cox's Lecter is not be fooled with and, unlike Anthony Hopkins' portrayal, he is unremittingly evil.
After all these years, "Manhunter" holds up, with multiple scenes that remain memorable to this day. It's a fine work by a master director. While far inferior to Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (Two-Disc Collector's Edition), it blows the remake, Red Dragon (Widescreen Collector's Edition) in 2002, out of the water. In terms of this often times repellent genre, this ranks as one of the greats.
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Manhunter
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