Director: Brett Ratner
2002
The third installment of the Hannibal Lecter film series comes as a prequel to the films Silence Of The Lambs and Hannibal, but the novel, Red Dragon, was actually published first among the three stories. Critic and audience response was better to this film than to Hannibal although this film only earned $200 Million - yes, successful, but less than Hannibal.
This one is similar to Silence Of The Lambs in that Hannibal is a minor player in the film, assisting an FBI agent in tracking another killer. I won't say "copycat" since this story was originally the first published amongst the Hannibal Lecter series but it does attempt the same goals, although Silence Of The Lambs is definitely the better among the two. In all, this is a very good film but better if you don't make the constant comparisons between films.
Story: After solving the notorious Hannibal Lecter killings, FBI agent, Will Graham, goes into early retirement. Will gets pulled back in when the FBI seeks his assistance in a new set of killings in which he must seek the assistance of the imprisoned Hannibal.
Gay Factors: The gay factor is extremely minimal and limited to one scene, so I wouldn't even be discussing this film on this blog except that it's the final in the original Hannibal Lecter trilogy, so i'm including it primarily to be complete for Hannibal fans.
The gay factor could be called homophobic - the police create a fake tabloid story in an attempt to draw out the killer, saying he's impotent to the opposite sex and molests his male victims before killing them.
If you've already seen the film Hannibal, the opening sequence can be seen through a gayer vibe. The film opens with Hannibal having somewhat of gay lifestyle and the group is discussing the disappearance of a floutist from the orchestra; this would be the same killing that Clarice discussed in the film, Hannibal, in which Paul (Ray Liotta) makes the comment about 'always thought he was queer.' Clarice had said he killed the man to make the orchestra sound better.
Also of interest, the film features brief nudity from Ralph Fiennes, but the full frontal is dark and even hard to see in slow motion, so I wouldn't name that as a reason to see the film.
In coincidence, the film's director, Brett Ratner, admits to a gay experience which he used as reference to the scene in Rush Hour 3. Brett says one of his first sexual experiences was a blowjob from a man dressed in drag, whom he 'didn't know was a man.'
Ralph Fiennes
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