Year:	2002
Director:	Brett Ratner

Cast:

Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Harvey Kietel, Mary Louise Parker, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

I'm reviewing this film before seeing Hannibal, which general consensus seems to agree sucks badly, so I assume people were thankful for the quality Ratner and his talented cast bought the frachise.

The character Hannibal Lecter has never particularly impressed me. I though any creepiness Hopkins bought to the role was thanks to the script, lighting, camerawork and the iconic means to transport him, strapped to a table with an anti-bite mask or tethered inside a circle.

But this film, while virtually copying the premise of Silence of the Lambs, was well done and fairly suspenseful.

Edward Norton plays the FBI cop who brought Lecter down in the beginning. Now a new serial killer - Dolarhyde, played with antisocial menace by Ralph Fiennes - is hotting up, and investigators convince Will (Norton) to draw on his excellent profiling record and catch him. To do that, he has to go to Lecter, and a similar cat and mouse game of wills to the one Lecter shares with Clarice Starling ensues.

The plot is pretty generic, but some acting heavyweights keep you interested.