Hannibal Rising (2007)

Director: Peter Webber

Cast: Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li, Rhys Ifans, Dominic West

Have I Seen it Before: Well, isn’t this a topic of some debate?

Did I Like It: There’s an understandable impulse when watching a bad movie to let one’s mind wander to how the movie could have been improved, or even, dare I say, fixed entirely. It’s probably an unfair point to jump off for a critique of a film. One normally never knows what forces cause a movie to take its eventual shape, and if given the opportunity to steer a production, we all might come to the same blunders, or likely come up with entirely new ones*.

Here, however? I’ve got nothing. After two episodes of Friendibals, we’ve bandied about jsut what went wrong between this film and its concurrent developed novel, but it is ultimately a thing that should not be. Even a story that would have focused on those years of Hannibal in practice in Baltimore would have been less weighed down by the need to explain and make pedestrian Lecter’s (Ulliel) evil, it still would have been a largely inert tale, unless someone like Bryan Fuller was around to truly turn the proceedings on their head. Ultimately, Harris probably should have stuck by his guns and not been baited by producer Dino de Laurientiis into re-entering the fray.

But, just as Harris’ novel is an casserole dish full of uncooked noodles, this film is made up of good elements which sadly never come close to a satisfying whole. Ulliel and Li are engaging in their role, but the former never quite channels Hopkins like he he might have. For some reason, I would have believed rumored contender Macaulay Culkin more, but again, that casting would have been a near-miss. The score Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi references the motifs in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) without ever feeling slavish. The camerawork and production design is sumptuous and there are brief fits where the film feels like it is a venture into Lecter’s memory palace, which feels like was the whole point.

But it isn’t enough. I’m not sure what would have made it so.

*See for an example how after Jurassic World Dominion (2022), I don’t think we’re going to hear any more about how Colin Trevorrow’s Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) would be any better than the film we got.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Director: Marc Webb

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary

Have I Seen It Before?: Yes. I eventually came around to it, but I didn’t see it in the theater. As my mind tends to wanders in these reviews this year, that statement tends to make me feel wistful, as its entirely possible I may never see another movie in the theaters again. Back then, though, I was put off by the disappearance of Sam Raimi, et. al. and struck by how it would have definitely been an also ran in the summer which brought us The Avengers (2012).

Did I like it?: A few things that can happen to a big tentpole movie like this that are unfair, but pretty lethal. A star that owned the central role and the creative team can leave the franchise. Think On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) or Batman Forever (1995). It can be especially unfortunate when the viewer can’t help but wonder what the franchise would have been like if the studio left it alone. One imagines what Sean Connery or Michael Keaton would have done with those films (in either order, really…) and so as this film projects you can’t help but think about what Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire would have done had they had the chance to rebound after the admittedly wobbly Spider-Man 3 (2007). The Lizard could even come to play, except played by Dylan Baker. Throw in a Mysterio courtesy of Bruce Campbell for good measure.

Does this film completely surpass those limitations? No, we are still subjected to another scene of a young Peter Parker looking with full Spielberg-face as a spider descends from mysterious cluster of scientific wonder, followed by an extended montage where our friend Parker slowly comes to the realization that something changes. Ben Parker will die too. Great power; great responsibility. That whole routine. It was truly refreshing when the MCU dispensed with all of that when it began its lease on the franchise with Captain America: Civil War (2016).

Still, there are things to recommend this film. For one, Martin Sheen is in it. Not to put down the late Cliff Robertson, but if a film wants to make me not want to disappoint someone, they could do a lot worse than Jed Bartlet. The film also sports a score by the late, great James Horner which—even if we weren’t going to be getting any more of those—is right at home with some of his best scores. It doesn’t have the same ring-in-your-head quality as Danny Elfman’s work in the prior series, but I’m not going to knock it.

Those elements are merely cosmetic. I can’t help but applaud the film for rolling with its inherent limitations and offering us a story where Peter Parker’s transformation into the friendly, neighborhood wall-crawler is tied to a very clear search for his identity, weaving in Parkers lost—and seldom mentioned—parents into the origin so that Parker is not simply a victim of his transformation being a million-to-one shot, but a byproduct of his search for that destiny.

Now if only the studio had kept their head on straight for the sequel…