Hannibal Rising

When you think of terror, whom do you think of? You think of someone who is cunning, knowledgeable, no cares and has a sick and twisted side. Hannibal Lecter is all of this wrapped up into one person. Lecter is probably the most recognized name in terror, just hearing his name or hearing the sucking/slurping sound that he made, makes the body cringe and has people saying stop it with their eyes closed tight and hands over their ears. We have all known from the movies/books that as a man Hannibal Lecter is a terrorfying person, but we never knew how he became this way. In comes Hannibal Rising, the story of Lecter’s childhood and pre-teen years.

Thomas Harris once again shocks the senses and writes the beginning novel that tells of young Hannibal’s trials and tribulations. Harris who also wrote Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal goes back in time to the beginning with Hannibal Rising. Harris also did double duty on Hannibal Rising as in also writing the screenplay for the movie. Directed by Peter Webber, who mostly did TV directing, takes the helm in Hannibal Rising and tries to bring his own style while also bringing that shock factor of which is Hannibal Lecter. Gaspard Ulliel assumes the main role of Hannibal Lecter. Rhys Ifans (Little Nicky, The Replacements) plays the role of Grutas, the main thorn in Lecter’s young life. Dominic West (Rockstar, HBO’s The Wire) plays the role of Inspector Popil, who is in charge of catching criminals who have conducted war crimes during World War II.

The story of Hannibal Lecter begins in Lithunia during the World War II era. Lecter as a child watches Soviet troops kill his parents. Only Hannibal and his baby sister Mischa survive the event. While surviving in a forest cottage the two youngsters are taken hostage by a gang of bandits, led by Grutas (Ifans), who are out for money and also committing crimes of horrible natures. Mischa is soon sought out as the weaker of the two children and is taken away in a hunger rage by the bandits. Hannibal soon escvapes from the bandits and is put in the Soviet camp for boys, which in his early teen years he escapes. He goes to France and lives with his aunt and is soon the youngest student accepted in medical school. During his time in medical school he travels back to the cottage and finds the dog tags of the men who ate his sister. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Hannibal Rising does a good job of showing hoe Hannibal became Hannibal the Cannibal. It doesn’t have as much gore and violence that one would think it would have. Its more of a revenge driven psychopathic rage. Its shows how, even at a young age, Lecter is a calculated mastermind and somewhat twisted genius with the way he extracts his revenge on his enemys. Hannibal Rising also left it open for there to be more to the story of a younger Hannibal Lecter.

Hannibal Rising gets a 3.75 out of 5.

This is a must own, especially if you have the other 3 movies.