Red Dragon - Collector's Edition

Red Dragon - Collector's Edition
by Brett Ratner

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DVD Reviews of Red Dragon - Collector's Edition

DVD Review: Tepid, lifeless remake of "Manhunter"
Summary: 2 Stars

First off, I really like actor Edward Norton. I think he is a brilliant actor. With that out of the way, he is miscast in this movie. There, I said it. So is Harvey Keitel. And Ralph Fiennes. And even the superb Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

The book Red Dragon has already been made into a movie, and definitively so. It was called "Manhunter", and it was even made by the SAME PRODUCER who made this one.

Ted Tally, screenwriter of "The Silence of the Lambs", is credited with the screenplay on "Red Dragon". However, there are SO MANY lines in this film that are word-for-word reproductions of dialogue in "Manhunter". Either he copied them word for word from that film, or the lines were directly from the book and they were used in "Manhunter" too. Either way, Tally is taking sole credit for someone else's work.

Yes, I am a big fan of "Manhunter", and I've seen it many, many times. And I bet "Red Dragon" director Brett Ratner has too. Ratner is a self-described movie nut, too, as well as director. I would find it VERY difficult to believe that he hasn't seen "Manhunter" at least a few times in the past. And so much of "Red Dragon" seems lifted directly from "Manhunter" that it goes beyond coincidence.

Well, he lifted a lot of stuff but not its style. "Red Dragon" is to "Manhunter" what paint-by-numbers is to a Van Gogh.

So many things in "Red Dragon" seem like blatant copies of things from "Manhunter", down to shot selection, scene structure, editing choices, etc.

Unfortunately, those of you who have seen "Red Dragon" but have never seen "Manhunter" can never see "Manhunter" with the same set of eyes that we "Manhunter" fans have. So you may never know the excitement and thrills of that movie quite the same way.

But believe me when I say that "Red Dragon" copies so many elements of it but never reaches the level that "Manhunter" does.

Brian Cox played Dr. Lektor in "Manhunter" (don't worry about the spelling), and he was spot-on perfect. It made Hopkins' subsequent version seem over-the-top and too theatrical. William Petersen played former FBI agent Will Graham, and he was old enough and battle-scarred enough to play it perfectly. Norton just can't pull it off with the same intensity or believability.

Sadly, in "Red Dragon", even Hopkins seems to be phoning it in.

For "Manhunter", director Michael Mann had a cast of largely unknown actors (at the time). Casting higher-profile actors for "Red Dragon", while a smart business decision, was a poor artistic one.

And in "Manhunter", we didn't need spooky atmospherics to set a mood. Hopkins' Dr. Lecter in this movie and in "Lambs" is imprisoned in a dank, creepy basement. But in "Manhunter", Cox's Lecter was in a pristine, all-white, sterile environment, and he STILL was creepier than Hopkins. In "Red Dragon" we are shown Lecter's attack on Graham, and we are shown The Tooth Fairy's Dickens-ian childhood traumas. It is all spelled out for us. In "Manhunter", those elements are merely referred to fleetingly, but you can read the rest from the actors' eyes and performances.

"Red Dragon" is a FAR INFERIOR version of the novel by Thomas Harris than Michael Mann's brilliant "Manhunter". And it even borders on plagiarism in spots, IMHO. It is more than obvious that this film was made only because Dino DeLaurentis, who owns the film rights to the characters, felt he could bleed a few more bucks out of the franchise. And that's all.

Description of Red Dragon - Collector's Edition