PREQUELS AND ORIGIN STORIES. SERIOUSLY JUST STOP PLEASE RIGHT NOW. THERE ARE TOO MANY. WAY TOO MANY.
Oh and reality TV is also terrible but that goes without saying.
It seems like they're giving every stupid superhero or beloved story an origin series that is unnecessary and often just ruins the source material. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is one of the best psychological thrillers of all time. Did we need sequels and remakes? No. But we got them. Do we need a prequel TV series about Norman Bates and his mommy issues? No. But we're getting that too. I guess my problem is I just see these shows for the blatant, pandering cash grabs they are and even though I like some of the characters and sources they're based on I have no desire to see them. Anyways. On to what I'm actually talking about.
Hannibal is the exception to my dislike of this "genre", and one of the very best shows on TV. Every aspect of it is pretty much flawless. The acting is particularly phenomenal. As we all know, Anthony Hopkins pretty much defined the character of Hannibal Lecter for all eternity in Silence of the Lambs, and his bone-chilling portrayal of the character is naturally the standard to which anyone attempting this role will be compared to until the end of time. Despite this monumental pressure, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, The Hunt) delivers an absolutely outstanding performance in this series. He has all of Hopkins' class and unsettling calmness, but he also brings an imposing physicality to the role that no one else could replicate. Obviously the audience knows from the beginning of the show that Hannibal kills and eats people, and this makes it all the more difficult for Mikkelsen to play a compelling character because from the very first scene we know his secret. But he succeeds with flying colours, playing a character who is professional and very skilled in his field of psychiatry, but is also a completely unpredictable psychopath who is highly manipulative and excels at controlling people due to his extensive knowledge of the human psyche. Hannibal is always in control. He works extremely closely with the FBI agents who are hunting him, and they have no idea that the killer they're looking for is right under their nose until it is far too late. It's this power dynamic that makes Hannibal so fascinating, you can never tell exactly what's going on in his head behind that cold, neutral expression. Also playing their roles very well are Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford, the FBI agent leading the investigation into Hannibal's crimes, and Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, an unstable FBI consultant with the strange ability of empathizing with killers and mentally reconstructing their crimes. He and Hannibal have a complex relationship that is developed incredibly well over the course of the two seasons that have aired so far. These three actors form a fantastic core cast, with a great supporting cast around them.
While the acting is excellent, Hannibal's dark, moody. unsettling atmosphere is the aspect of the show that I probably love the most. In terms of visual style and tone, Hannibal is absolutely stunning. Watching a season of this show is like a watching a 10 hour long psychological thriller. There is rarely silence, eerie sound effects and a haunting score give the show an intense atmosphere of dread and despair. The set design is phenomenal, horrific crime scenes strewn with gore abound in almost every episode. All of these environments are masterfully constructed, and display the handiwork and "artistry" of the killers in the show incredibly well. On this note, I am consistently amazed at how much insanely graphic violence Hannibal has been able to get away with. It airs on NBC, and I don't think I've ever seen a show on network television this shockingly gory. The second season in particular is horrific, one memorable scene has Hannibal dose one of his enemies with a mixture of hallucinogens and force him to slowly cut off his own face piece by piece, feeding it to both dogs and himself. Almost nothing seems to be taboo for this show, brutal dismemberments are commonplace and rivers of blood flow through every episode. The season finale of Hannibal's most recent run has Hannibal fleeing to Europe after cutting almost all of the other major characters in the series to pieces in a final showdown and leaving them all to bleed to death. Pretty much the only main character that we know is definitely living to be in season 3 is Hannibal himself. How many TV shows have the balls to kill (or as good as kill) 90% of its main characters in one episode? Not many. Take that Game of Thrones.
This unflinching, unapologetic use of gore combined with Hannibal's incredible cast and art design make it a complete and total must-see for any horror fan. I don't even consider myself that much of a horror fan and I love it. Season 3 now plz
No comments:
Post a Comment