Of all the films to feature Hannibal Lecter, Michael Mann's "Manhunter" maybe the most subtle and probably the least obvious. It was based on Thomas Harris' book "Red Dragon" which was subsequently filmed with Hopkins reprising his role as Lecter but with very little subtlety and a lot of gore. Here Lecter is a superb Brian Cox in a performance that doesn't make you think of Hopkins at all. Unfortunately he's only on screen for a few short scenes. The rest of the time we have to endure William Petersen's one-note performance as Will Graham, the supposedly smart F.B.I. agent on the case. Personally I could never see Petersen catching a fly on fly paper let alone Lecter or the Tooth Fairy.
If Petersen is a problem the other problem is Mann himself. For some reason he's decided to turn "Manhunter" into an art-house movie devoid of the excitement a good serial-killer chiller needs. It's magnificently shot by Dante Spinotti but it doesn't engage you and it's climax is ... well, anti-climatic to say the least. No pun intended but Hopkins' Lecter had bite; this Tooth Fairy is a curiously toothless beast. If "The Silence of the Lambs" sequels were crude affairs at least you knew they were there. This one just disappears as you're watching it.
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