Hannibal Rising (DVD, 2007, Unrated Version)

"Hannibal Rising" (UNRATED) is the Prequel to the wildly derived success' of "Manhunter" & Remake "Red Dragon" (Dragon with Anthony Hopkins). Then, of course, falls "Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" as we follow through the perverse classic of Hanibal "The Cannibal". Thomas Harris, the author who created Hannibal Lecter, wrote both the novel on which Hannibal Rising is based and the screenplay for the film adaptation.
In this well-done prequel, more suavely violent than perverse, we will learn Lecter's fundamental basis and childhood. His rise through EVIL., to become the "Hannibal" we will then watch in "Red Dragon".
We see that Lecter did not begin life as a psychotic cannibalistic sadist, but rather a sweet and privileged boy whose life implodes during World War II. Witnessing the destruction of humanity, particularly his own, and when he meets his widowed Japanese Aunt, Lady Murasaki (Gong Li), Lecter stumbles upon her shrine to a Samurai Ancestor. Here, he discovers the means to an end. By this reckoning, Lecter learns the EVIL adjustment that renders his beginnings acting out., while simultaneously developing a refined gourmand's palate that happens to include a taste for human flesh.
In counterbalance, the film offers up the character of Inspector Popil (Dominic West), a Paris detective who specializes in War Crimes. He has similarly lost his family during the War, as has Lecter at this point, (a point-driven-hard by film's directors). Popil lectures Hannibal on letting justice take its course. Yet Popil realizes in brief time., that he will need to bring Lecter to justice. Out of control, Lester and Popil will begin the first cat-and-mouse liason that has driven the Hannibal Trilogy to date.
Intelligence mixed with insanity introduces Lecter's world; and his victims are shown as monstrous as he. The taste for Fava Beans and Chianti with his liver., is born.
"Hannibal Rising" (UNRATED) works at all levels as a thriller; a whole multitude of sins. The film has a great feel for pacing, and doles out the violence is simply heavy-handed, gratuitous nature. Lecter is far from subtle; as he ladles on the carnage. Director's let the cameras linger over Lecter's gruesome handiwork, the sound effects department working overtime to capture each unsettling sound of impending doom. The scenes are slowly drawn for review, packed with suspense and wrought with tension.
While the "Hannibal" Trilogy has a slight upperhand., as the adult "Hannibal" clearly learned more as he aged to maturity, amidst his newfound perversions., "Hannibal Rising" is the PERFECT derivitive in granting us the birth and foundation of youth gone drastically awry.
A must-see, must-have for "Hannibal" fans everywhere. It is incapable of failing viewers. SEE THIS !!!!