Why did they make a prequel? I mean expect for the money? Five years after the last film about Hannibal, why try to explain? We find ourselves with a film that makes us have pity for Lecter at first, we even have a rather shady moment when we understand by their looks that they will eat his sister but was it we wanted? Get the explanation of the cruelty of Lecter? Personally I would have liked to have the memory of "Hannibal the Cannibal" inhabited by an unexplained and inexplicable cruelty, not an Hannibal of which one has pity! This film is really not terrible and 4/10 is still well paid, it is not by showing cannibalism that we make a good film about Dr. Hannibal Lecter! Why a fuc*ing prequel??

Seriously underrated and unreasonably criticized movie. It is accused to exist only to milk additional money from successful franchise, that demystifying of psycho killer is spoiling whole franchise, that Gaspard Ulliel can not fill the shoes of Anthony Hopkins and similar nonsense. Lack of Hopkins is one and only downside of this movie, but it was unavoidable. And yes, no one could possibly fill the shoes of Hopkins, but Hopkins could not act young Lecter, he had to be replaced and Gaspard did great job in this role. To me, he is even more creepy than Hopkins. In every other way this movie does not fall behind the rest of the franchise.7,5/10

While the beginning is quite good, too much is cramped into too little, taking too many liberties with the book. Here are the problems i have with this film1. While Gaspard Ulliel's acting is brilliant as a person who knows he is going to be a vicious serial killer, not good for a damaged person who has still to completely embrace his dark side as in the book. 2. A large part of the book deals with Hannibal trying to remember what happened in the lodge, the cool part about creating a mind palace. In the film, that is given very little time.3. Too much background music.4. The major problem is that the acting and story is set like a prequel. It is as if the characters know already the events of "Silence of the lambs". That is the whole feel of the film.5. Too much grandiose acting. That is one great thing about SOTL that all the films in the Hannibal saga got wrong. All of them tried to be too grandiose. Whereas, SOTL had a more realistic treatment. 6. Lady Murasaki seems smitten by Hannibal and weak. The book however gives her a lot more character.

This film is a prequel to "Silence of the Lambs" and seeks to tell how the young Hannibal Lecter, affected by the dramatic events of World War II, became a dangerous cannibal. Directed by Peter Webber and written by Thomas Harris, this film has a cast headed by Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li and Rhys Ifans.This film is not bad, but its too far from the success and quality of "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs". It cannot be analyzed as a horror film because never frightens us. Its closer to the thriller or police movies.It has a dubious script, which explains the reasons why Hannibal is what he is in previous films. This is its first problem: it want to transform a perfect villain in a dubious antihero. The idea simply does not stick with anything that the character will do in the movies played by Anthony Hopkins. The idea of ​​inserting Japanese elements in the story also seems a wrong option, something that does not fit properly, despite the good acting of Li Gong.In fact, speaking of actors, she seemed to me the best performance of the film, discreet and elegant as called for her character. The actors who played the villains was reasonable. Gaspard Ulliel, in the leading role, is a casting error: although he managed to give its character lots of coldness and cynicism, he wasn't able to give it charisma and sense of taste, striking personality traits of Lecter that are quite visible in Hopkins movies.The film contains several intense action scenes with moments that may hurt some people's sensibilities, so be warned. Still, its far from violence and gore visible in "Hannibal". Its a film that focuses on action and romance, not on blood. The special, visual and sound effects are good and get better as we approach the end. The soundtrack seemed to be regular, fulfilling its role without stand.