Manhunter [Blu-ray]

I have loved this film for many tears, for the longest time I never knew it was the first of the Hannibal Lector films (albeit as a bit part). It has an energy and pace about it that Silence and Red Dragon lack and a better portrayal of Hannibal. Some truly disturbing visuals, a genuine sense of impending doom and horror and a great performance from Tom Noonan as Francis. The ending is completely different from the book but it still works as a dramatic conclusion to a really good thriller. The transfer is realy good and they haven't messed with the soundtrack or effects like they have done with soooo many other releases so it still sounds like the film I remember from umpteen years ago. Well worth a look for anyone looking for a slick fast paced thriller with enough action to keep it exciting, enough story and character building to keep you interested and a brilliant revelation "OMG I've got you!" scene for Will Graham.

Manhunter is directed by Michael Mann who also adapts the screenplay from the Thomas Harris novel, Red Dragon. It stars William Petersen, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Joan Allen, Kim Greist, Brian Cox and Stephen Lang. Music is by Michel Rubini and The Reds, and cinematography is by Dante Spinotti.Retired FBI specialist Will Graham is lured back into action to track a serial killer who is killing families, seemingly linked into the lunar cycle. In the process it opens up some old mental wounds that were born out during his last action out in the field........Before the gargantuan success of Silence of the Lambs, where the name Hannibal the Cannibal moved into pop culture, and before director Michael Mann became a name auteur, often referenced with relish by hungry film students; there was Manhunter, Michael Mann's brilliant adaptation of Thomas Harris' equally brilliant psychological thriller, Red Dragon. It feels a bit redundant now, years later, writing about Mann's use of styles to bear out mood and psychological states, his framing devices, his commitment to his craft, but after revisiting the film on Blu-ray, I find myself once again simultaneously invigorated and unnerved by the magnificence of Manhunter. Visually, thematically and narratively it remains a clinical piece of cinema, a probing study of madness that dares to put a serial killer and the man hunting him in the same psychological body, asking us, as well as William Petersen's FBI agent Will Graham, to empathise with Tom Noonan's troubled Tooth Fairy killer. Here's a thing, too, Francis Dolarhyde (The Tooth Fairy) is a functioning member of society, he is quite frankly a man who could be working in a shop near you! This is no reclusive psychopath such as, well, Buffalo Bill, Dolarhyde is presented to us in such a way as we are given insight into this damaged mind, he is fleshed out as a person, we get to know him and his motivational problems.Dream much, Will?Mann and his team are not about over the top or camp performances, gore is kept to a premium, the real horror is shown in aftermath sequences, conversations and harmless photographs, but still it's a nightmarish world. Suspense is wrung out slowly by way of the characterisations. Will has to become the killer, and it's dangerous, he knows so because he has done it before, when capturing Dr. Hannibal Lecktor. Needing to pick up the scent again, to recover the mindset, Will has to go see the good doctor who has a penchant for fine wines and human offal. These scenes showcase Mann at his deadliest, a bright white cell filmed off kilter, each frame switch showing either Lecktor or Graham behind bars, they are one. When Lecktor taunts Will about them being alike, Mann understands this and visually brings it out. Dolarhyde's living abode is murky in colour tones and furnished garishly, and with mirrors, paintings and a lunar landscape, yet when Dolarhyde is accompanied by Joan Allen's blind Reba, where he feels he is finally finding acceptance, this house is seen at ease because of the characterisations. Switch to the finale and it's a walled monstrosity matching that of a killer tipped back over the edge. Brilliant stuff.If one does what God does enough times, one will become as God is.Lecktor, soon to be back as the source material Lecter in the film versions that follow, is actually not in the film that much. Brian Cox (chilling, calculating, frightening and intelligent) as Lecktor gets under ten minutes of screen time, but that's enough, the character's presence is felt throughout the picture in a number of ways. The Lecktor angle is very relative to film's success, but very much it's one strand of a compelling whole, I realise now that Mann has deliberately kept us wanting more of him visually. Noonan is truly scary, he lived away from the rest of the cast during filming, with Mann's joyous encouragement, the end result is one of the best and most complex serial killer characterisations ever. Lang scores high as weasel paparazzi, Allen is heart achingly effective without patronising blind people and Farina is a huge presence as Jack Crawford, Will's friend and boss who coaxes Will back into the fray knowing full well that Will's mind might not make it back with him. But it's Petersen's movie all the way. His subsequent non film career has given ammunition to his knockers that he is no great actor. Rubbish, with this and To Live and Die in L.A. he gave two of the best crime film portrayals of the 80s. He immerses himself in Will Graham, so much so he wasn't able to shake the character off long after filming had wrapped. There's a scene in a supermarket where Will is explaining to his son about his dark place, where "the ugliest thoughts in the world" live, a stunning sequence of acting and a showcase for Petersen's undoubted talents.Newcomers to the film and Mann's work in general, could do no worse than spend the ten minutes it takes to watch the Dante Spinotti feature on the disc. Apart from saving me the time to write about Mann's visual flourishes, it gives one an idea of just how key a director and cinematographer partnership is in a film such as this. The audio is crisp, which keeps alive the perfect in tone soundtrack and eerie scoring strains of Rubini and The Reds. Some say that the music of Manhunter is dated? I say that if it sits at one with the tonal shifts and thematics of a story then that surely can never be viewed as dated. And that's the case here in Manhunter. The director's cut is included as part of the package but the transfer is appalling, and for the sake of one cut scene that happens post the Dolarhyde/Graham face off, there's really not much to the DC version anyway. The theatrical cut is perfect, brilliantly realised on Blu-ray to birth a true visual neo noir masterpiece. 10/10

It received nowhere near as much attention, as the rest of the films that deal Hannibal Lecter. However, it was the first to introduce us to the characters – that said it was a scary movie. In addition, it is a good movie in its own right.Hannibal Lecter is as memorable and is well acted, but he's scarier in a less cannibalistic way. He is a direct threat to the primary good guy, as we learn that he nearly killed FBI agent Will Graham and drove him to near insanity. Graham is the man responsible for apprehending Lecter, but to do so, he had to get further inside Lecter's head than was psychologically safe to do, and the audience is continually reminded throughout the film of that fact. We fear that he is in grave danger of losing his sanity in the process.To complement the terror, Lecter is playing his mind games, while theoretically helping Graham; he is also secretly helping the killer, known as the "tooth fairy". Notwithstanding dealing with the physical and psychological dangers presented by Lecter, Graham must also try to reconstruct the mindset of the killer, and this provides the real drama of this film. He is a man on the edge; he's been through psychological hell, as he, wants nothing more than to live in peace with his wife and son.On the other hand, when his old boss Jack Crawford enlists his help, showing him photos of the murdered families, he cannot refuse. In addition throughout the entire film we are drawn into his struggle, the battle between his exceptional intellect for seeing into the minds of serial killers as opposed to his desire to maintain his sanity, protect his family, and simply lead a normal life.As such, Graham is a far more convincing character than was Agent Starling. Although this movie has its flaws like its "Miami Vice" overtones, enough said there. An honestly frightening psychological thriller is definitely scarier than its more famous and critically acclaimed successor.

Peterson from NCIS Vegas and Brian Cox as Dr Lecter. Beautifully filmed and a cracking sound track.