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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  Manhunter (1986) « previous next »
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Author Topic: Manhunter (1986)  (Read 1958 times)
Mofo Rising
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« on: May 03, 2001, 04:04:37 AM »

If any movie has ever been hampered by preconceived notions. . .

MANHUNTER is of course the original movie featuring Dr. Hannibal Lecter (or Lecktor), based off the novel "Red Dragon".

I remember watching this movie in high school on the recommendation of a friend.  I recall liking it, and also noticing that it had Lecter in it.  (This was right after SILENCE OF THE LAMBS came out.)  I recently watched it again and was amazed by how much I missed.

In case you're not familiar, MANHUNTER deals with an FBI profiler who has gone into retirement.  He is called back into service after a serial killer rises to prominence.  He, of course, has misgivings, especially since he had spent some time in a mental institution dealing with the mental problems a previous case had left him with.  Nonetheless he takes the case, only to find that he must face the killer who had hospitalized him in order to get a grasp on the case.  The killer is of course, the diablolical Dr. Lecktor.

Let's get this off the bat, this movie was made in the eighties.  Not only was made in the eighties, it was directed by Michael Mann, the guy behind the series MIAMI VICE.  You are going to notice this.  But if you approach it with an open mind, it works.  Mann is a master of style, most of it visual, and is teamed with a master cinematographer.  The scenes propel themselves with their own syncopated sense of visual wit.  However, they also hold within themselves, and the whole movie, the excess that the eighties are so known for.  This is what AMERICAN PSYCHO was going for, but only imitated.

You're also going to notice the music.  It has that uneasy synthesizer music going for it in places, and at other times very eighties music.  (Did you notice the adjective "eighties" keeps coming up?)  But most of it works.  It actually reminded me of BLADE RUNNER, which seemed fitting, seeing as Ridley Scott directed HANNIBAL.  At some times the music captivates the scenes and holds it in it's grasp.  Look especially for the scene with the song "Strong As I Am" playing.  And of course the climactic scene with "Inagaddadavida".  Overall the film has an spastic energy with scenes of genuine kineticism.  (Yes I am planning a film appreciation class, why do you ask?)

Anyway, I was completely into this movie.  SILENCE OF THE LAMBS was never able to grab me.  HANNIBAL bored me, except for the extremely graphic scenes of violence.  MANHUNTER held me within it's grasp for the entire two hours.  In fact, it made me feel sick.

So why the preconceived notions bit?  If you want to entertain yourself, which term I use loosely, visit the IMDb review page and glance through them.  Before the massive re-release of MANHUNTER after the debut of HANNIBAL, there was mostly reviewers comparing it to the novel, "Red Dragon".  Unfavorably usually.  I'm reading "Red Dragon" right now, and it's in fact amazingly faithful.  Some scenes are cut, but others lift dialogue straight out of the book.  I haven't gotten to the ending yet, which seems a major point of contention.  After the release of HANNIBAL there are a flood of reviewers comparing it to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, which is nonsensical at best.  MANHUNTER is about a serial killer and the man who is looking for him.  SOTL is about the mortal danger and redemption of Clarice Starling, with a serial killer as a plot point.  To compare the two is to miss the point.  But I concede the comparison is inevitable.  Which is too bad.  MANHUNTER  was pretty much ignored in its own time.  Its re-release now is like the coming out party of man who's younger siblings won the Nobel prize and Prom Queen, respectively.

I would give MANHUNTER five stars (not slimes), but would also expect opinion to vary greatly.  What do you think?
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Squishy
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« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2001, 11:10:54 PM »

I enjoyed "Manhunter" too--and I'm very unlikely to see the remake, since it's very likely to be astonishingly boring save for the occasional bucketful of sensationalistic gore. (In my book "Hannibal" is to "Silence" what "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" is to "TCM" or "Psycho III" is to the original. Okay, maybe it's "Leatherface: TCM III." "Red Dragon" is probably gonna be the equivalent of "TCM: The Next Generation" or "Psycho: The Dud-Ass Remake.")

It has been well over a decade since I saw "Manhunter," and I still see the flaming wheelchair rolling at me...
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