Red Dragon (2002) - Movie Review

Red dragon (2002) :

rating - 4/5

Cast : Anthony Hopkins, Ed Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Harvey Keitel, Philip Seymour Hoffmann

Based on Thomas Harris’s book ‘Red Dragon’

Director : Brett Ratner

Review by Zulfiqar

            It’s a real bummer for me as to how I had let a movie like ‘Red Dragon’ unwatched all these years. Being a devoted fan to Anthony Hopkins’s portrayal of Hannibal Lecter, giving a miss to the prequel in sequence is almost blasphemous. Taking the blueprint of the Thomas Harris’s novel Red Dragon, the movie starts with FBI profiler, Will Graham, taking the assistance of Dr Hannibal, a serial killer in finding another psychic murderer, who leaves his denture mark as signature. But Graham has to live with his nightmares while he seeks help from the diabolic doctor.

            Brett Ratner’s artistry lies in the way the movie is treated. The movie though moves swiftly in its script has a languishing and meandering pace studying the interior minds of both Dr Lecter and the Tooth-Fairy. Ralph Fiennes brings a lot of menace into the character of Dolarhyde with his flitting expressions of self-doubt and monstrosity-in-flashes while he is a normal citizen. But when he portrays the beast on his back, he looks fiery and unrelenting juggernaut of violence. But like a partisan, I have to side with Hannibal if a comparative study is done between the two. In fact, the childhood-traumatized Dolarhyde/Dragon is a pilgrim of the doctor. He writes to his idol, while the latter is in high security prison, about his fascination with him and his inspiration.

            One of the most interesting scenes in the movie is the scrutiny of this hidden missive by the police, without the knowledge of the doctor. Will Graham, in past had unearthed the secret fetish of the doctor and also turned him in, knows while he is working on the letter with his superior, Jack Crawford (Harvey Keitel), that you can’t be too smart while working around Hannibal. But the more interesting part is how Ratner arranges layers of deception in this scene with respect to the two psychopaths, in the way they plan to communicate and also in the aftermath with regard to a tidbit-savvy journalist, Freddy Lounds (Philip Seymour Hoffmann). There are many plot-twists, if you closely observe, which happen whole through the movie.

            Looking at retrospection even after having been exposed to countless modern TV series on detection and police protocol, the movie still has a very sharp existence in its genre, because of the way Ratner delves in the minds of Lecter and Dolarhyde. The prologue, which explains the relationship of Hannibal and Graham, is a very taut few minutes. It has a pun-laden levity at a dinner table where the doctor discusses with his orchestra band friends regarding the disappearance of one of their members, who isn’t much of a perfect foil in terms of syncing music. It is followed by Graham’s discussion with the doctor. Graham and Hannibal have a doctor-patient relationship, which makes it suitable for the latter to lure the profiler to confess his professional turmoils regarding trapping of a murderer, whom we all know. There is a humming sound of a fly hovering over the spider’s web, but which is which.

            And then again at the other business end is the relationship between a blue-collar Dolarhyde with a blind and angelic, Reba, his work-buddy. Dolarhyde, a shy and oppressed being as a kid, is won over by Reba by her ignorance of his disfigurement as much as by her pristine character. Ratner makes a good decision of giving a stretch of unbroken focus in the mid, where the two characters culminate their romance and start on its downward travel, which makes it easy to fully comprehend the character of Tooth-fairy. The only problematic point in the whole fiasco with Toothfairy is that he isn’t as beastly as he thinks and his tattoo is magnanimous but not intimidating. That probably doesn’t make Freddy Lounds’ horrified expression on watching the whole tattoo, sell.

            The character study of dolarhyde is another important strong aspect of the movie. There is not just his childhood history pathos and his disturbed mind, but the way it is explained. He leaves his toothmark as his signature but it is his glass in the eye-sockets, which has a dual-purposeful twisted logic. If you are a sucker for this sort of thing, ‘Luther’ is a great series to start with. Ed Norton portrays the protagonist not as a hero but as a survivor and not being so proud of it. That’s his strong play here. Emily Watson, however, is a great piece of casting, whose Reba may spurn a heart as much as it can resurrect it. But we all know at the end, that the show belongs to the real man.

            Anthony Hopkins rules the character of Hannibal by having the perfect and solid composure. He stands straight, looks squarely in the eye and doesn’t talk but looks into your soul. The way his eyes bore, he may as well break the fourth wall. His sing-song voice has a maniacally-incisive edge, but it is his reading of the after-thoughts of Graham, which scares him more. His knowledge of Dolarhyde and his methods is derivative by his inherent psychopathic genius, the thought which in itself is diabolic. Hopkins adds the menace with his glint-ridden eyes and sinister smile. Cinematographer Dante Spinotti adds the extra touch by highlighting these features. The teeth have serrated appearance by the play of lights, which is an ingenious move. And Hopkins sells it in oodles. If you are invited to his dinner, even though if you luckily may not sit on his table, it is wise to make an excuse and miss it.