Brett Ratner’s Red Dragon arrived in 2002 as a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, adapting the 1981 Thomas Harris novel that had already been filmed once as Manhunter in 1986. Ted Tally, who wrote The Silence of the Lambs, returned to write the screenplay after turning down the Hannibal sequel. The film stars Edward Norton as FBI agent Will Graham, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, and Ralph Fiennes as Francis Dolarhyde.
Trailer, via UniversalMoviesINTL.
A Sweetbreads Recipe in the Study
Graham visits Lecter in 1980 to discuss a case. He has been building a psychological profile of a serial killer and is certain the man is a cannibal, because organs taken from victims often turn up in cooking. In Lecter’s study he finds a bookmarked sweetbreads recipe that includes those organs. Lecter stabs him; Graham stabs back with arrowheads and shoots him before passing out. Lecter is tried, found not guilty by reason of insanity, and sent to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Two Families Killed Under Full Moons
Years later, a killer nicknamed the Tooth Fairy murders two families, the Jacobis and the Leedses, during full moons. Jack Crawford, played by Harvey Keitel, pulls Graham out of retirement in Florida to review evidence. Graham tells Crawford the killer has “no face” to him. The killer is Dolarhyde, who acts on the direction of an alternate personality he calls the Great Red Dragon, named for the William Blake painting tattooed on his back. His psychopathology traces to childhood abuse by his grandmother.
Dante Spinotti Shot Both Versions
Dante Spinotti was cinematographer on Manhunter and on Red Dragon. The cast includes Emily Watson as Reba McClane, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Freddy Lounds, Mary-Louise Parker as Molly Graham, and Anthony Heald as Dr. Chilton. Hopkins plays Lecter for the last time in the series; only Hannibal Rising (2007), a prequel about Lecter’s youth, followed.
What the Film Gets Right
The procedural spine holds. Norton plays Graham as a man worn down by the work, and Fiennes gives Dolarhyde a physical heaviness that sells the Blake obsession. The Lecter scenes carry the charge they need to.
Where It Falls Short
Red Dragon is competent where Manhunter was strange. Ratner directs cleanly but without the unease the material wants, and the film settles for being an improvement over Hannibal rather than a rival to The Silence of the Lambs. Tally’s script is faithful to the novel, which is also the problem: it illustrates the book instead of reimagining it.
The Numbers
- Release date: October 4, 2002
- Runtime: 124 minutes
- Budget: $78 million
- Worldwide gross: $209.2 million
- Metacritic: 60/100
The box office says audiences wanted Hopkins back in the role one more time, and the film delivers that. What it does not deliver is the dread that made the 1991 film a landmark. Red Dragon is a solid adaptation and a middling thriller, worth watching for Fiennes and for the last real pass at Lecter.
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