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Manhunter--Special Edition


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Released to box-office indifference in 1986, Manhunter introduced Hannibal Lecter and established the rules of the modern race-to-find-the-serial-killer thriller five years before The Silence of the Lambs packed cinemas everywhere. This was Michael Mann's third feature, reuniting William L Petersen and Dennis Farina from his debut Thief (1981) as FBI agents hunting the killer dubbed "The Tooth Fairy". Petersen's Will Graham is the man who put "Lecktor" (as it is spelt here) behind bars, and, as in Silence of the Lambs, he is forced to consult the Doctor, played here with understated malevolence by Brian Cox.

Manhunter is an exceptionally well-photographed film: Mann's regular cinematographer Dante Spinotti creates sparse, elegantly framed, often monochromatically lit compositions essential to the shifting psychological moods. The performances are very good, and the typically 1980s, Vangelis-esque electronic score effectively sustains tension. Once the killer is introduced the scenes with Joan Allen have a genuinely unsettling, almost surreal quality, although there is at least one serious plot flaw--how does "The Red Dragon" get his letter to Lecter? Manhunter never packs the sheer excitement of Silence of the Lambs, nevertheless, it is a powerful and compelling thriller which remains far superior to the Anthony Hopkins-starring Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). --Gary S Dalkin


Great movie on good DVD
Review date: 2008-01-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

This film is the on-screen-birth of Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (as he's written in this movie!). The DVD not only offers the theatrical cut but includes the director's version, too. As a matter of fact, the two versions have not only differences in cuts and lengths (for more informations look through the net) but the director's cut is a bit darker (see this two sites with comparisons of the two film versions:
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1637/dclinkskfrechts1yi2.jpg and
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2995/dclinkskfrechts3bw4.jpg)

To the film itself:
I had to watch it few times, before I got warm with it. Maybe I expected more Lecter or something like that. But the more I watched, the more I started to like. Right now I maybe watched the movie about five times and I'm deeply impressed by the amazing connection of sound and pictures. May it be the song 'Coelocanth' during the 'meeting' with the tiger or 'Heartbeat' during the end credits. Besides, the colours in the film are awesome. The blue at Graham's house. The white and purple room of Lecktor. The green in Dollarhydes house. In the documentaries on DVD 1 (Manhunter Look and Inside Manhunter) some effects are portraied by camera operator Dante Spinotti.

All in all, this DVD version is a worthy DVD for this film and I'm a bit sad that Kinowelt didn't release the director's cut in my home country Germany until now.

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Reviews


Hunt this man down...
Review date: 2007-12-31 Rating: 10 out of 10

Quietly forgotten in the whirlwind hype surrounding the more mainstream versions of Thomas Harris' character Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, etc) - this severely under appreciated gem juggles elegance and style, character development and excellent plotting to conjure up the most satisfying of all the Lecter adaptations to date.

Release in 1986 to middling reviews, director Michael Mann's third feature (following on from his TV success with 'Miami Vice' and big screen endeavors 'The Keep' and 'Thief') is a triumph of both style and substance. Shot with a mid 80s gloss, Mann transfers Harris' novel to the big screen with panache and manages to wring many a scare out of the source material. The movie stars William L. Peterson as Will Graham, an ex-FBI agent who is forced out of retirement to track down a serial killer, suitably named 'The Tooth Fairy' (played beautifully by Tom Noonan). His only hope is to seek council with a killer he successfully captured years before . . . Hannibal Lecter (here spelt 'Lektor'). This sets in motion a chain of events that will lead Graham to question his own talents and sanity all the way up to a dynamite climax in which graham comes face to face with The Tooth Fairy himself.

Peterson is well cast as Graham. Brooding and awkward, yet heroic in equal measure - he fills the screen whenever he is in shot. His performance totally eclipses Edward Norton's interpretation of the character in Brett Ratners' pointless remake 'Red Dragon'. Dennis Farina essays the role of Jack Crawford, and although I prefer Scott Glen in 'Silence', he too is excellent in the part. His and Peterson's exchanges in the movie give it its intensity and power the movie along. As always, Mann directs with style to spare and (for me, anyway) gives his best movie - even bettering the mid 90s star fest 'Heat'. Brian Cox essays the role of Lektor this time around, and although not as entertaining as Anthony Hopkins interpretation, he does a sterling job and keeps the character in check with a subtle nuance.

The score too is excellent - granted, very mid 80s, but Mann's choices of music to accompany the visuals is inspired and really lifts the imagery. Talking of imagery, Dante Spinotti's cinematography is excellent and really alternates the picture between high gloss slick drama to gritty, urban thriller. The police procedural elements are very well handled and the sense of urgency that is highlighted give the movie its heart and the lighting and style echo each and every beat of the story. All in all, an impressive film that deserves to be seen.

The DVD too is impressive. With an excellent high calibre transfer and short documentaries to unravel the behind the scenes story. All in all, a worthy DVD of an excellent movie. Recommended.

Freddie Lounds is the real villain here
Review date: 2007-10-08 Rating: 8 out of 10

Director Michael Mann wouldn't find global recognition until 1992's Last of the Mohicans, but this 1986 detective thriller, based on Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon, is still well-loved and has now found new life in the form of this Special Edition.

William Peterson plays Will Graham, a jaded detective charged with hunting down the "Tooth Fairy" (Tom Noonan), a killer who preys by the light of the full moon. To track the killer, Graham must "recover the mindset", and so he consults his arch nemesis Hannibal Lecktor (renamed 'Lecter' in later adaptations).

Peterson's Graham may seem bland and one-dimensional compared to Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling, but it's worth remembering where each character begins. Silent and repressive, Graham is pared-down memory of his former self; the shadow of Lecktor looms so heavily upon him he's no longer sure whose thoughts he's thinking. The scene in the supermarket in which Graham reveals the truth of his past to his son (David Seaman) is played out like a confession: in a triumphant surge of music, Graham is purged. Starling, by comparison, is a rookie - she has no previous. She's nervous and talkative. And, crucially, Lecktor/Lecter loves her, and so we get the full pysch report. Is she a more interesting character? Probably.

But it matters little. Lecktor is the star of the show. Here, Brian Cox plays the old cannibal with classic restraint. Hopkins' version was a pantomime monster, skulking in his dark, dank dungeon. Cox's villain is shrouded in heavenly white; his menace is achieved through poise and understatement. The simplicity of his ambience alludes to the purity of his horrifying intent.

Manhunter is a far from perfect film. Graham is the product of a bad TV movie: the jaded cop with the beautiful wife and the penthouse by the sea, and a the private jet waiting on the runway. And the film has dated badly, there's no two ways about it - the Tangerine Dream-esque music in particular frequently lurches from atmospheric to incongruous in the space of adjacent scenes. But then, one could argue, Mann has since established himself as a pure pop director. At least Manhunter feels like a product of its time, rather than a product of a diseased mind like Mann's own Miami Vice.

Excellent support comes from Joan Allen as the blind lady who breaks the Tooth Fairy's heart, as well as Stephen Lang as the irredeemably repugnant Freddie Lounds. Fast-paced, with an exciting and intricate forensics-based plot to follow, as well as a satisfying, stylish climax, Manhunter is well worth purchasing.

"You owe me AWE..."
Review date: 2007-07-01 Rating: 10 out of 10

Released to box-office indifference, Mann's Manhunter introduced Hannibal Lecter and established the rules of the modern race-to-find-the-serial-killer thriller years before The Silence of the Lambs. This first adaptation of a Thomas Harris novel is by far the best, yes, superior even to "The Silence of the Lambs". Most of the actors were unfamiliar to audiences at the time, which just enhances the entire experience, giving the film an immediacy and lack of predictability that one misses when Big Stars are onscreen. There will be only one Hannibal Lecter, and it is the exquisitely understated malevolence by Scottish actor Brian Cox, not Anthony Hopkins (over the top).


The final sequence is an inversion of the film's opening home invasion, only this time Graham breaks into Dollarhyde's house and stops him from killing again. This shoot-out is a spectacle of vibrant colours, extreme angles, staggered jump-cuts, and blurred movement with Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" underlining the action.



A Fantastic Classic - The Influence for 'Cracker' and 'CSI' !
Review date: 2007-02-28 Rating: 10 out of 10

'Manhunter' is a product of the marvellous director Michael Mann (Thief, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Collateral), who applies his usual array of cinematic, artistic and musical application talents to make a film which is my all-time favourite.

It has all the ingredients you could wish for: a stylistic production, excellent acting, realistic characters, a thrilling tempo, mystery, terror, drama, human emotions and (above all) a fantastic accompanying soundtrack.

The film is based on the Thomas Harris book 'Red Dragon' from his Hannibal Lecter series; this story being the 'prequel' to 'The Silence of the Lambs'. The book has more recently been remade into a film with the 'correct' title, but whilst it follows the novel storyline more accurately it does not compare to 'Manhunter' as a cinematic experience...

Dating from the mid-80's, the plot and film are most certainly the stimulus for such programmes as 'Cracker' and 'CSI' (and latterly series like 'Criminal Minds'), due to the forensically detailed nature of the investigation, but especially the criminal psychology aspect depicted superbly by the character Will Graham (it is probably no coincidence that he is played by the subsequently famous star of CSI, William Petersen !). Another Mann trademark of filling character parts with people who do the job in real-life (eg the law-enforcement community) is repeated here, see the film credits to see how many are used !

The way the film shows the tracking down of the serial killer, and the fact that he is revealed to the viewer before the detectives have found him, helps to build a multi-layered storyline as well as being unusual (until copied by the later programmes mentioned above). Although obviously covering extreme violence, the film rarely depicts it in any other way than by implication, description and/or aftermath imagery. This does not detract from the horror theme and, in my opinion, enhances the chilling nature of the subject !

Various matters that I have already alluded to mean that first-time viewers of Manhunter should avoid perhaps being slightly 'under whelmed', by remembering that any similarities to other films they have seen are because they copied it ! Also, to avoid any perception of it being dated, it is essential to watch the restored version as that brings the picture quality and soundtrack up to modern standards...

Despite the viewer already knowing who the murderer is, the 'revelation' of him being detected is stunningly portrayed by Peterson as he speaks his thought processes out loud. Whilst the key clue is there all along, I doubt any viewer will have figured it out before he does !

Hannibal Lecter (Brian Cox) is played beautifully as a chillingly reserved monster, and the serial killer (Tom Noonan) shows all the character 'flaws' required of someone who feels killing is a solution to their issues; the book obviously covers those aspects more fully than the film....

Finally, a few words about the soundtrack. Mann is well-known for his talent to apply suitable music to his productions and this is no exception (which is why the best sound quality DVD issue is worth getting !). The original music blends beautifully with the plot progression but, more significantly, the addition of existing commercial tracks from talented groups such as 'Shriekback' and 'Iron Butterfly' make the production quite outstanding (they prompted me to explore the music of those groups more and buy their albums).

The background of Shriekbacks 'Evaporation' to Graham's detection scene is enthralling, 'This Big Hush' provides a marvellous backdrop to the serial killer 'love' scene. However, the true highlights are the use of 'Coelocanth' to support the 'Tiger in the vet's' scene and the climax of the film relying on 'In A Gadda Da Vida' by Iron Butterfly.

It is noteworthy that the artistic nature of Mann's direction is especially evident in the climax, as the film is edited to fit in with that 10 minute-long music track, rather than the music being applied to the film.

SEE THIS FILM !!!

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One point worth bearing in mind that a definitive DVD edition does not really exist as the various issues all have flaws and varying 'cuts' (variations even exist between those issues labelled 'Theatrical Cut' and 'Director's Cut' !); however, I own the Region 1 Limited Edition Anchor Bay 2-disc effort (for the film), the Restored Region 2 UK Directors Cut (for the commentary and other extras) and lately have acquired the Region 2 issue originating from Japan which has DTS, a good image transfer and has the 'definitive' Theatrical cut !

All these newer issues have a very good picture quality and soundtrack, so you can't really go wrong with any of them.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Stephen Lang
Joan Allen
Tom Noonan
Brian Cox
William L. Petersen

Creators:
William L. Petersen (Primary Contributor)
Joan Allen (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Momentum Pictures
Manufacturer: Momentum Pictures
EAN: 5060049140476
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2003-05-19
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 115 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1986
Language: English (Original Language)

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