Red Dragon - Anthony Hopkins

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Dean O

New member
It's just started on ITV - has anyone seen it and is it any good, just wondering before I start watching...might read if its dire.
 
Opinion always seems to be divided over whether Man Hunter or Red Dragon is the best. I prefer Hopkins as Lecter rather than Brian Cox so Red Dragon gets it for me.

Definitely worth a watch if you've never seen it before but as mentioned, don't expect it to be Silence of the lambs.
 
thanks both for replying...1 all I guess on the the film..might keep watching...thanks.

Ps, I didnt realise it was a remake...I saw Manhunter when it first came out...but dont remember too much of it...but some of the scenes in the prison..
 
The problem with Red Dragon is that Hopkins looks older and fatter although he's supposed to be younger.
My advice - read the book; it's better than both films.
 
I'd agree although, I think Brian Cox's Lectre was far superior, and extremely chilling - the only think I remember not liking about Manhunter was, and I could be remembering this wrongly, but it had a bit of a cop out ending, unlike the book.
 
I preferred Manhunter, I found it much more suspensful and I didn't find Ralph Feinnes very believable as a serial killer, the other bloke who played Francis Dollarhyde was much better. After saying that I do prefer Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, even though he did look a lot older, but supposed to be younger :rolleyes: weird !!

That bit in the film when the reporter is set on fire, is much better done in the other film. IMO
 
I just don't understand why they remade this film.

Why?
What was the point?

Manhunter was perfectly fine. It didn't need remaking at all.
I watched Red Dragon and it was practically identical to the original.
So why bother?

It's not as though Manhunter was some old black and white film or a foreign language film, so I fail to see why it was even necessary to make exactly the same film again.
Manhunter was only made in 1986. How old do films need to be now before they get remade?
Will we be seeing films like Pirates of the Caribbean remade in a couple of years now?

Utterly pointless exercise.
I can't say that Red Dragon was a bad film because it was practically identical to the original Manhunter.
 
I suppose the answer must be 'money' and having a full-set of Tony Hopkins as Lecter.
Red Dragon has a great cast ... Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Philiip Seymour Hoffman et al... but it never gets going. Manhunter was much darker and had more of a psychological slant to it.
I am sure Hopkins would have done Abbot And Costello Meet Hannibal Lecter if they had paid him enough.
 
Saw some of this for the first time last n ight - have to agree with other posters though, not as good as Manhunter IMO. I couldn't watch without comparing to Manhunter, so stopped. Found Ed Norton boring/unconvincing and Anthony Hopkins' Lecter a camp version of his original portrayal.
 
A lot of it was down to Dino Di Laurentiis (producer) being peeved that he let Silence Of The Lambs get away. He was the producer of Manhunter, which did diddly squat at the cinemas upon its original release. He decided to retitle the film Manhunter rather than Red Dragon, because he didn't want people to associate it with the millions of kung fu and karate movies which were being released by Chuck Norris and his frienRAB at that time.

Because Manhunter did so poorly when it was released at the cinema, Di Laurentiis (and his production company DEG) turned down the opportunity to make The Silence Of The Lambs movie. So, it was produced by Kenneth Utt, Edward Saxon and Ron Bozman for Orion films - and went on to be the biggest movie that that production company had ever released, and they also had video rights for it when it came out on tape after its cinema release.

So, when Hannibal was up for grabs, De Laurentiis decided he wasn't going to let Hannibal Lecter get away from him again. So, he produced it and his production company made the movie - and again, it flopped. But not as big a flop as Manhunter - mainly because it starred a lot of the same cast as were in Silence Of The Lambs - particularly Anthony Hopkins.

So, this time De Laurentiis decided he was going to remake Manhunter but with Hopkins as Lecter - as far as he was concerned Hopkins was Lecter, and Manhunter (or Red Dragon) would have been as big as Silence Of The Lambs was on its original release if it had starred Hopkins instead of Brian Cox. He also admired the Gothic style of the Baltimore cells that Lecter was kept in compared to his own clinical white modern building that was used in Manhunter, and wanted to use this same style for the Red Dragon remake.

So, he remade Manhunter, but this time using the actor that people associated with Lecter (plus other actors from Silence Of The Lambs to play consistent characters such as Dr Chilton and Barnie), using the style of the penitentiary that people associated with Lecter, and using the original title of the book (as there aren't anything like as many straight-to-video martial arts movies being made nowadays as there were in the mid-eighties).

And surprise, surprise - again it flopped. The film wasn't even as big a cinema release as Hannibal - but at least it made him a lot more money than Manhunter did. But many, many people still prefer Manhunter to Red Dragon, because at least Manhunter was new when it was released, whereas Red Dragon is just churning out the same story with different actors, and a lot of people don't like remakes.
 
I have to say i think Red Dragon is possibly my fave of the trilogy, i have read all 3 books and rate them as 3 of my fave books too.
I did prefer Red Dragon to Manhunter though, maybe because of the more modern feel??
 
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