Le Sixième Sens

This will no doubt elicit howls of outrage, but I have always thought that Mr. Cox's portrayal of Hannibal Lector to be far superior to that of Mr Hopkins'. Mr Cox portrays Lector as someone coldly intellectual, almost reptilian and inhuman, while Mr Hopkins gives a performance that always brings to mind that of Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein". Mind you, I really enjoy Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius; I'm just saying that the charming, witty and OH! so urbane serial killer has been done to death, and had been even when "Silence Of The Lambs" came out. Rent this video if you want to see how it's supposed to be done.

Dull and mundane title for such a fine film. I had some problem with the third victim in that the discrepancies between that and meticulously worked out modus operandi of the killer from earlier atrocities seemed glaring, never mind where he was likely to be on this night of the full moon. But never mind, the film is scary, very worrying and stunningly designed and shot with a decent central performance from William Petersen. He seems laid back and almost carefree but this is inevitable alongside the frightening performances of his past and present nemesis. The former is holed up in a terrifyingly all white cell and the latter lurking largely and taunting freely. Even though I had reservations about the final scenes these are very well executed and though I remembered little from my video viewing many years ago, that hand running through the tiger's fur was clearly burned into my subconscious. Great!

Besides the fact that it was released without much hoopla in 1986, and that it was recently remade(the same exact movie except for the end) as Red Dragon, Manhunter is undoubtedly the most overlooked movie of the past 20 years. The plot is tremendous, Mann's direction is outstanding, and the acting(especially Noonan) is equally amazing. What Mann realized while making this film is that a thriller was not just meant to shock and disgust the audience but to develop the characters carefully so that there is an even greater sense of anticipation for the climax of the movie than there otherwise would be. Recent thrillers are clearly lacking in the character development that made movies like Manhunter and Silence of the Lambs so good. Its a shame that Red Dragon had to be made, since it is basically a strait ripoff of Manhunter except for a different ending which is much worse than the original and way too predictable. Anyone who thinks Red Dragon was a good movie should watch Manhunter and compare the two. If you try this you'll see that there is no comparison. Tom Noonan's performance alone is worth the watch.

The bulk of comments concerning this film center on the debate of its superiority/inferiority versus Silence of the Lambs. That line of criticism does not do justice to either movie.

Besides the Thomas Harris link, there is no connection between them at all. Sure, there are shared character names, most notably Dr. Lecter, but not shared characters. Cox's and Hopkins' interpretations of the infamous cannibal could not be any more different. Whose is better? That's irrelevant here. What is relevant is Manhunter's success as a stand-alone feature film.

Michael Mann's film is standard serial killer fare, which is not necessarily a bad thing. What separates it from its cinematic brethren is its style and class. It's easy to follow a hunter-prey storyline. What isn't easy is to provide the audience with well-rounded characters who convey that grey moral ground of real life. In that respect, Manhunter is a success. From the FBI agent teetering on the edge to the killer struggling with his emotions, Mann weaves a complex story that takes a step above the genre.

The movie is definitely of the 80s. Timelessness is the top determining factor of a film's "classic" status. Whether or not Manhunter stands the test of time is yet to be seen. The music is already dated, but not to the point of impeding the story. Fortunately, it has not suffered the same fate as the now campy reruns of Miami Vice.

Manhunter is not a great movie. It is an above average genre film aided by a stellar cast and crew. Take it for what it is and enjoy an underappreciated thriller.

Having finally seen MANHUNTER, I am left wondering why anyone ever felt the need to remake it - RED DRAGON is a fine flick, with a fine cast, but it feels exceptionally pale given what a tremendous source it was drawing from; scene for scene, line for line at some points.

So much threat, such a pervading sense of menace; the character work, and the direction, the wonderful soundtrack - it hums along, and there's no place to stop to catch your breath. I really adored this, and if you're looking for a really engrossing thriller, and I mean thriller, this movie delivers.