BLU-RAY M MANHUNTER

MANHUNTER

Written by TroyAnderson Sep 18th 2009 Hits: 382 Favorites

0.0

0.0 (0)

THE PLOT THUS FAR

An FBI specialist tracks a serial killer who appears to select his victims at random.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

Since comparisons between this film and Red Dragon are imminent, I will just go ahead and get them out of the way so I can spend the rest of the review on this exceptional thriller. Manhunter does not sport the cast that Red Dragon does. However, that works to its advantage because it is easier to believe in the characters without having the respective actor filmographies as baggage. This is most important when considering the protagonist and antagonist. You do not see William Petersen as FBI agent Will Graham and say "that isn't Will Graham, it's Willy Petersen," but you might say that with Ed Norton. When reading the book "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris, you picture a person similar to Tom Noonan in the role of the "Tooth Fairy", NOT Ralph Fiennes. Sure, Anthony Hopkins owns the role of Hannibal Lecter but his role in this story is not as significant as the following sequels and Brian Cox does a good and more terrifying job with the role (the character of Lecter is not in this movie near as much as Red Dragon, it seems like about 5 minutes, partly because they had to write extra scenes for Hopkins to justify his paycheck). He is certainly more charismatic and charming (the scene on the phone is a clear indication of this I think).

Where both films tend to differentiate most is with the respective directors. Michael Mann is one of the best visual directors in Hollywood, however he is not consistent. When he hits, it is out of the ballpark, but when he misses, it is not so pleasant. With every hit (Last of the Mohicans, The Insider and Thief) there are an equal amount misses (Heat, Ali, and The Keep). At least he has range and does not classify himself to one genre, and even his stinkers are still a visual treat. Brett Ratner has directed two mega blockbusters (the Rush Hour films) and two easily forgettable films (Money Talks and The Family Man). The success of Rush Hour was due to Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, not Ratner. They carried him, rather than the other way around. All of his movies have been an exercise in by the numbers directing that any TV director can imitate, except Ratner got above the pack because he coincidentally directed a movie that anybody could have directed that was going to be a big hit anyways (all he had to do was not screw it up). The only praise that can put on Ratner is he does not screw things up, but he never takes the ball and runs with it. All of his movies are just mailed in, Red Dragon being the most obvious example.

If there were ever two films to compare directors, I would say Manhunter and Red Dragon are prime candidates. This is evidenced further because both films have the same director of photography (Dante Spinotti). His collaboration with Mann produced a visual tour de force, one of the best of the '80`s, experimenting with blues and whites. With Ratner it was nothing special, just the typical browns and earthtones that have been in thrillers since Silence of the Lambs made it the "cool" thing to do.

Mann uses Manhunter to become a visual experience, rather than literally adapting the book, "Red Dragon" page for page. This is the challenge all directors face when adapting something from print: How to convert from written word to visual medium? Mann accomplishes this with ease in his film, while Ratner took the easy route to just literally adapt the book to screen. While Ratner`s version may be more "faithful" to the source material, it gives you nothing extra and you makes you feel you were better just reading the book rather than watching a "cliffnotes" version of it. That is a job for TV movies, not cinema. Mann uses the book as a jumping point to explore how visual information can alter perception in reality. This is explored through the relationship between the protagonist, Will Graham (William Petersen) and the antagonist, Francis Dolarhyde (Tom Noonan).

After a quick shot of the Dolarhyde`s van, the film switches to a POV shot of Dolarhyde walking up the steps of his victims house. The shot is distorted, possibly shot on video, to illustrate that the villain sees the world in a different way than everyone else. When Will Graham is lobbied by his former supervisor, Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina) to come back to the case investigating Dolarhyde`s murders, it takes a picture of the slain families to convince Graham to return to the FBI. Already in the first five minutes of the picture visual stimuli is playing an important role.

To contrast with the visual stimuli of Graham and Dolarhyde, Mann and Spinotti give the viewer beautiful images as well. Shortly after Graham`s conversation with Crawford, there is a beautiful shot of the ocean with the yellow sunset reflecting off the blue waves. Mann then cuts to Graham and in his wife in bed. The room has almost become an ocean to itself with the white bed sheets covered in a blue reflection. How are we being affected by such beautiful imagery?

The Blu-Ray comes with a reference quality DTS 5.1 HD MA track that sports such a well-developed soundstage that you'll feel like you're in the movie. However, the lack of substantial special features puts a dour feeling on this disc. It's obviously an HD master from the last trip to the well for the Lecter DVDs, so why couldn't we have been given the same special features that were on the last Hannibal DVD? Hell, a little effort in terms of supplemental material goes a long way. Would it have jacked up the MSRP...who knows? Still, coupled with Silence and Hannibal...it's worth a buy.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!