All of this opulence, together with extravagant set-pieces that go past grisly to grotesque (and then, in the climax, on to goony), can't compensate for the halting pace of a patchy script.

| Jul 15, 2023

Hannibal doesn't seem to be about anything but its own swank decadence. Hopkins, with his reedy voice and effete airs, is still quite delicious in the part that won him an Oscar. But 10 years later, Lecter has become more camp than terrifying.

| Mar 6, 2018

No tension, no rhythm and no sense of purpose ... unless you count helping "Faces of Death" fans feel more evolved.

| Feb 5, 2018

The story line of Hannibal is far less interesting than Silence of the Lambs and lacks the emotional subtlety of its predecessor. However, Hannibal is visually and aurally sumptuous, powered by Hans Zimmer's lovely score and brimming with flashy imagery.

| Jan 18, 2018

The weight-watchers script sensibly dispenses with several characters to serve a brew that's enjoyably spicy but low on substance.

| Feb 9, 2006

Hannibal Lecter is the ostensible cannibal of this franchise, but the real cannibals are his creators. I wouldn't be surprised if the next time, they have him endorsing his favorite Chianti.

| Sep 26, 2002

So many characters suffer such ghastly things, yet none of it seems to matter much.

| Original Score: D- | May 9, 2002

Hannibal definitely grabs at the emotions, but not the one it's after. You come in hoping to have the wits scared out of you and leave with your temper barely in check.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Mar 19, 2002

Well-sustained tension throughout.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 16, 2001

It walks like Hannibal Lecter. It talks like Hannibal Lecter. But it sure doesn't taste like Hannibal Lecter.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 26, 2001

Ranging from laughable to just plain boring, Hannibal is toothless to the end.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 19, 2001

Simply a fat slab of sadism.

Full Review | Feb 12, 2001

Hopkins, who is electrifying in almost anything he does, reprises the mastery he brought to Silence of the Lambs. Even in a movie as patchworky as this, he's always compelling.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 9, 2001

It is not bad on its own terms, and it is certainly engrossing, but it comes nowhere near the power and sordid glory of the original.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 9, 2001

Hannibal won't even be a footnote when the year's best movies are grabbing the ink in December.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2001

Bears many of the wounds of the book's confusion.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2001

Isn't in the same class as the original, but as sequels go, it's no Porky's 2, either.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2001

There are disgusting movies that are worth seeing -- Silence of the Lambs, for one -- and others that are merely disgusting. Then there's Hannibal, which exists in its own category.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 9, 2001

Very likely the worst film of this year and quite possibly the next.

| Feb 9, 2001

Meandering, emotionally empty and thoroughly unsavory, it's not so much shocking as shockingly bad.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2001