Manhunter
| Year: | 1986 |
| Production Co: | De Laurentiis Entertainment Group |
| Director: | Michael Mann |
| Producer: | Dino De Laurentiis |
| Writer: | Michael Mann/Thomas Harris |
| Cast: | William Petersen, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Brian Cox, Joan Allen |
Like most people who've seen this film, I was curious to see how a modern master like Michael Mann handled a story we've seen done by (among others) Jonathan Demme and Ridley Scott and which has become such a cultural institution.
The answer is that this was the same Michael Mann who cut his teeth on Miami Vice. It's so much a product of its time (the 1980s) it's nearly laughable in places - everything from the cool blue lighting to the Giorgio Moroder-style soundtrack.
The other major change from Silence of the Lambs is that Hannibal Lecktor (note the spelling) - this time portrayed without as much menace by Brian Cox - is in barely more than two scenes, and the focus is much more on the Crockett-a-like cop (Petersen, in the role Jodie Foster would make her own) and his offsider and commander Dennis Farina.
It would have stood much better on its own without a far superior film overshadowing it quite a decade later, but it manages a sense of creepiness in all that Miami neon and Axel F-like soundtracking.
The answer is that this was the same Michael Mann who cut his teeth on Miami Vice. It's so much a product of its time (the 1980s) it's nearly laughable in places - everything from the cool blue lighting to the Giorgio Moroder-style soundtrack.
The other major change from Silence of the Lambs is that Hannibal Lecktor (note the spelling) - this time portrayed without as much menace by Brian Cox - is in barely more than two scenes, and the focus is much more on the Crockett-a-like cop (Petersen, in the role Jodie Foster would make her own) and his offsider and commander Dennis Farina.
It would have stood much better on its own without a far superior film overshadowing it quite a decade later, but it manages a sense of creepiness in all that Miami neon and Axel F-like soundtracking.