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Hannibal Rising
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer


4.1

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 46 votes
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FILM:

BOOKS:

Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris

MPAA RATING: R for strong grisly violent content and some language/sexual references

Starring Gaspard Ulliel, Rhys Ifans, Li Gong, Helena Lia Tachovska, Dominic West, Aaron Thomas, Kevin McKidd, and Richard Brake

In "Red Dragon" we learned who he was. In "Silence of the Lambs" we learned how he did it. Now comes the most chilling chapter in the life of Hannibal Lecter -- the one that answers the most elusive question of all -- why? (MGM)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Thomas Harris (also novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Peter Webber
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 29, 2007 Theatrical: February 9, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	117 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France / UK / USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Hannibal Rising isn't a classic, but it's entertaining and a surprisingly fitting addition to the franchise.

Premiere Jenni Miller

The story's beginning is in a rush to get to the the killings, which get more and more disgusting.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

This strikes me as the final nail in the franchise's coffin. I can't name an actor who could have made young Lecter as interesting as the older one, but Ulliel does not come close.

TV Guide Ken Fox

It's a handsomely mounted but poky thriller undone by a fatally miscast lead.

Film Threat Mark Bell

This is essentially a by-the-numbers revenge film with some attempts at deeper characterization. The difference between this film and, say, "Batman Begins" is that Bruce Wayne, upon finding the tormentors of his youth, never tried to kill and eat them.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's a handsome film, but the pace is continually gummy and the set-ups stiff and artificial. Most crucially, nothing in it vanquishes the sensation that we're being sold something superfluous -- like a service contract for a carton of eggs.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

What Hannibal Rising is, mostly, is a hoot.

Village Voice Jim Ridley

This comically fastidious telling of the Hannibal Lecter origin story completes the extreme makeover of grindhouse fare that "The Silence of the Lambs" started 15 years ago. Meaning: Respectable audiences who wouldn't be caught dead at a (sniff!) horror movie still want severed heads; they just want the bloody meal served on Royal Dalton china.

Variety Dennis Harvey

This upmarket slasher is a well-produced but slow-moving thriller that never quite roars to life.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Most of the movie makes too much sense and is no fun at

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Thomas Harris adapted his own bestseller and Peter Webber, who previously directed "Girl with a Pearl Earring," had the unenviable task of trying to give this glop, which is too gruesome to be campy, a high gloss. It should be called Man With a Severed Head.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Director Peter Webber can't do much about what's missing from the story: a soul or a sense of purpose.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Ulliel, the meek missing soldier in "A Very Long Engagement," makes such a tedious Lecter that this quickly becomes a chore, though Dominic West ("The Wire") is good as a French detective on the madman's trail.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Hannibal Rising is basically a Steven Seagal vigilante movie with a hero who eats the people he kills. At least it's ecofriendly.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie streamlines much of Harris's book. It's a shame, because it results in the movie's fundamental flaw -- the one-dimensionality of Hannibal.

Empire Kim Newman

Gong Li is welcome as Hannibal's Japanese aunt-in-law/mentor, Gaspard Ulliel isn't a bad young Lecter and Webber's direction is intermittently classy -- but this is a footnote rather than a film.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

For better and worse, the movie is more attractive and competently assembled than its schlock peers. That's refreshing, but it hardly excuses the appalling lack of suspense, intermittent tastelessness, or shockingly low camp quotient.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Errors in logic will delight the attentive.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

Who would have thought mass murder and cannibalism could be so dull?

Los Angeles Times Sam Adams

Bad as Harris' Hannibal Rising screenplay (his first) is, at least it's an improvement on his dreadful book, streamlining its convoluted action and discarding large chunks of unspeakable dialogue.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

This Hannibal is a stick-in-the-mud altogether lacking in the wit, gourmet appetites and romantic flair required of any surrogate for Sir Anthony Hopkins. By the end of two full hours, it's only Harris' head you long to see on a plate.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Not just a bad film, Hannibal Rising is downright dull, which is a far worse crime.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Not quite repellent enough to avoid tedium, Hannibal Rising is both too familiar in portraying Hannibal as a Dracula-like aristocrat monster, and crud in its exploitation of wartime atrocities.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Hannibal Rising reduces this great creature of the pop imagination to a Eurotrash Boy Scout throwing a homicidal snit fit.

Chicago Tribune Phil Vettel

A sort-of combination of "Lambs," "Batman Begins" and "The Joy of Cooking," Hannibal Rising ostensibly dramatizes the atrocities that turned Hannibal Lecter from loving child to serial killer. But this film is larded up with so many food references that I'm undecided whether this story belongs in a film compendium or a recipe file.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The funniest movie of the year - a true laugh riot. Viewers will be holding their sides to contain the laughter. Forget Borat - if you're looking for something hilarious, this is the movie to see. What's that? It's not supposed to be a comedy. Oops.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

For the first time in the film series, Harris wrote the screenplay himself, which means the movie is practically identical to the book. In other words, they both stink.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Dull and dreary prequel.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

It's all quite a mess, with awkward performances, worse dialogue and a painfully protracted running time conspiring against any chance of enjoyment, even in a so-bad-it's-good guilty pleasure way.

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Silly, slack and unforgivably tedious, Thomas Harris's screenplay is padded with interminable flashbacks and a bombastic score that telegraphs every emotion Hannibal represses. And there are a lot of them.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.1 (out of 10) based on 46 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Robert R gave it a4:
Hannibal Rising is defter and more earnest than what the mass critical consensus reveals. The breadth of the photography and framing is adept and deliberate, the 20 minutes of the WWII prologue is imperative on the motivation of the protagonist, and the detail generates possibility of grander actions to ensue. Subsequently, the crucial frailty of the movie is its perfunctory vengeance exemplar—deficient of any genuine incentive. Hannibal Rising is a revenge movie veiled in a dramatic character scrutiny. Despite its incompatible attempt, it disappoints at achieving any original dimension in the Hannibal canon, while substituting as a mediocre Kill Bill.

matt k. gave it a1:
I really hated this movie. The acting is really bad--I'm not a drama student and I don't pretend to understanding acting, but the dialogue, acting, even the accent seems off.

Pat C. gave it a4:
After five minutes the premise is a foregone conclusion: Young Hannibal sets out on a vendetta to find closure with past dinner guests who had served up his sister as the main course. It makes sense as a tale of revenge, but is neither engaging nor indicative as to how he went on to become the insanely dispassionate gourmet irrepressibly played by Hopkins. Upon reflection it does explain why Hannibal was attracted to Starling and her quest to come to terms with her past, but this only makes Silence of the Lambs more of an achievement. It does not make Hannibal Rising a better movie, and the procession of blown opportunities is the most shocking thing about it. I hope that any sequel concerning Hannibal's transitional years serves up whoever wrote the unimaginative dialogue.

Sergio J. gave it a10:
I don't understand why this movie received very terrilbe reviews. It was one of the best recent movies I have viewed. Ive never seen the other two in the Lecter series but this sure is good.

Christopher W. gave it a3:
High production values and evocative imagery and photography aside, this film should never have been made. The entire captivating Hannibal mythos is replaced by ennui and routine. It's just another gory slasher exploitation flick, nothing else. If you love gory slasher exploitation flicks, be my guest. Have at it! All others stay clear!

Justin B. gave it a9:
I was actually impressed. I thought this movie was going to be nothing compared to Silence of the lambs but it did have a good plot line and it did answer some good questions i've had durring this series. Yes he is no Anthony Hopkins at all but i think it really pulled me into Lecters shoes.

Jonh B. gave it a0:
This is one of the worst films i have ever seen, and the books not very good either. I think it only takes away the depth from hannibal lecter. The guy sounds french and the story does not fit in with anthony hopkins who sounds british. It is not worth seeing.

Hannibal Rising Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Hannibal Rising
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer