Red Dragon is way better than
Hannibal, but still comes up short next to
The Silence of the Lambs. With
Red Dragon, it's basically a return to the same format of
Lambs, in which
Agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) uses the expertise of
Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in tracking down another serial killer;
The Tooth Fairy (Ralph Fiennes) on the loose. This part obviously isn't original as it has the exact same beats from the first film. But what makes
Dragon work is that you can watch this without being bombarded with comparing one actor to another. Well, kinda. Once again, the film series is saddled with having to replace another actor, but this time it's the role of
Jack Crawford instead. In the original
Lambs, it was portrayed by
Scott Glenn, in
Dragon its by
Harvey Keitel.
At times while watching
Dragon, I of course would put
Glenn into the role whenever
Keitel would appear on screen. But given that the role in
Lambs was a minor character, it's not as glaring as replacing
Jodie Foster. So, I could actually get into this movie far easier than that of
Hannibal. Overall, I just think the pacing is very good with engaging characters by the likes of
Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes and
Emily Watson. And it was especially cool to at least get the same cast returning where
Lecter is serving out his life sentence with
Dr. Chilton and
Barney.
This is definitely worth a
Rent for sure. If you
Buy the DVD, you'll want to pick up the
2 Disc Director's Edition. More bang for your buck.