*Something* Rising

a quick one before i tuck into work (possibly, and to indulge myself in the theme of this post, with some fava beans and a light chianti)...

Ain't It Cool News has posted this review of the up-coming Hannibal Rising (there's also a prerelease wiki over on wikipedia:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30447

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Rising

possibly to my discredit, i actually liked Hannibal, *both* the book and the Ridley Scott film. i see the book as a Gothic Romance more than anything, and an extreme departure from the previous books in the 'Lecter Canon'. and though i utterly hate it when writers try to create sympathy for characters who neither particularly deserve or require it (whether for moral or aesthetic reasons, both of which apply to Hannibal Lecter) by providing a cliched backstory (typically involving a disturbed childhood), and Harris did fall into that trap with the book, Harris thankfully dips relatively lightly into it.

Scott's film, the sweet but undeniably wuss-out ending notwithstanding, was, to my mind, a well done adaptation, translating its dark essence, the feel of the book, into something that is both visually pleasing and downright nasty-to-behold.

true, it's difficult to feel any sort of sympathy for any of the characters, but to me, that just goes with the whole 'seen from the perspective of the uber-sociopath' thing that Hannibal is all about.

Hannibal Rising's basic premise leaves me cold, (falling even deeper into the trap and virtually beating us over the head with the disturbed childhood thing) but i will be seeing this film, as it promises to be, at the very least, a dark piece of cinematic entertainment.

but what is up with that 'way of the samurai' shit? i almost expect Liam Neeson to do a cameo on this one. but i guess we'll have to wait and see.

youtube (i <3 style="font-style: italic;">Hannibal:



whoops, not that one. here:



(or click here and here, respectively)

and surfing youtube some more, i find myself regretting that i never got a copy of the Taymor cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare's ultraviolent Titus Andronicus when it was still relatively easy to find hereabouts, given the sheer majesty of the movie's trailer:



(and here)

right. as a few snarks over at AICN have said of Lecter, enough of Sir Anthony Hopkins.

ta ta.
c