Red Dragon vs. Manhunter
"You had...disadvantages."
"What disadvantages?"
While horror fans will recognize this exchange as one between FBI agent Will Graham and the incarcerated Hannibal Lecter, it might as well be a conversation with a journalist and Manhunter filmmaker Michael Mann any time after 1991.
Graham’s response of “You’re insane” is somewhat less applicable, despite Mann indeed making certain choices that are certifiably nutty even within the cocaine-fueled madness of the 1980s. But the project’s chief handicap is that it’s the first adaptation of a Thomas Harris novel about Lecter and in turn is unable to quote from and build off of the best of the lot: The Silence of the Lambs.
Released 16 years after Mann’s film and adapting the same Harris source material, Brett Ratner’s Red Dragon keeps several of the players who made Jonathan Demme’s Best Picture winner so memorable, namely screenwriter Ted Tally and star Anthony Hopkins.
But it’s the film’s names that are the key giveaways. Whereas Manhunter makes it clear that Mann finds William Petersen’s Will the story’s most compelling element, Ratner and Tally rightfully prioritize the serial killer Will is hunting: Francis Dolarhyde aka The Tooth Fairy, whose obsession with the William Blake painting The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun fuels a disturbing and deadly delusion.
It also doesn’t hurt that Red Dragon is essentially an extension of Silence of the Lambs and greatly benefits from Demme's choices, Tally's familiarity with the material, Hopkins' mastery of the Hannibal Lecter character. Red Dragon also offers a chance for overall series redemption after Ridley Scott’s uneven 2001 adaptation of Hannibal, plus an opportunity to tell Harris’ story in Demme-inspired fashion.
Similarities abound, from Hannibal’s gritty iconic cell overseen by kindly guard Barney (Frankie Faison) and the slimy Dr. Chilton (Anthony Heald), to a psychotic mass murderer seeking physical transformation and a sympathetic FBI agent turning to Dr. Lecter for help. And though Dante Spinotti serves as cinematographer for both Manhunter and Red Dragon, his work in the latter far more closely resembles Tak Fujimoto’s visuals in Silence of the Lambs than any of his four Mann collaborations.
So, yes, Red Dragon is basically Ratner aping Demme, but excelling at it. And Manhunter is Mann, well, doing Mann.
The Heat director’s focus on Graham is a tragic one, primarily because Petersen simply isn’t a compelling actor. Mann does him few favors with the film’s plodding storytelling and over-reliance on atmosphere, which highlights Petersen’s minimal screen presence. And when his Will gets emotional while talking through The Tooth Fairy’s actions and thoughts as he surveys evidence and documents his musings on a handheld tape recorder, his performance turns hammy and borderline embarrassing.
Edward Norton’s take on the character is far more engaging and he handles the very same “process” moments with a restrained yet riveting methodical approach. But good as Norton is, it’s the emphasis on serial killers that’s the primary difference maker between the two adaptations.
In Manhunter, there’s no theatricality to Will visiting Lecter — sorry, “Lektor,” a spelling that mysteriously deviates from Harris’ text — in his bland, isolated, and in no way imposing confines. And having the great Brian Cox play the good doctor in the actor’s native Scottish accent is a strange choice that renders him more cuddly than creepy.
The decision to not show how this Lektor landed at the Baltimore State Hospital, nor his knifing that nearly killed Will also mutes the tension between the two men, along with Lecter's burning desire for revenge. In Red Dragon, their suspense simmers when they’re together and eats at Will when they’re apart. In Manhunter, Lektor only seems vaguely perturbed, as if Will once cheated him out of a winning poker hand.
Mann strangely misses the point that Lektor/Lecter is the best part of these stories. The incarcerated madman is basically an afterthought here — but even more maddening is the sidelining of Tom Noonan’s Tooth Fairy.
Whereas Red Dragon puts Ralph Fiennes’ interpretation front and center, depicting Mr. D’s physical prowess and his psychological torment stemming from a harelip and a domineering grandmother, Manhunter takes forever to introduce this villain, finally teasing him out to inflict revenge on tabloid journalist Freddy Lounds (Stephen Lang) for — at Will’s urging — insulting The Tooth Fairy in the pages of The National Tattler.
Though Noonan’s stocking-covered face while tormenting the kidnapped Lounds is arguably Manhunter’s most terrifying scene, it’s quite tame compared with Fiennes’ menacing tell-all to Red Dragon’s Lounds, whose confinement (stripped to tighty-whities, his skin glued to an ancient wooden wheelchair), extended fiery death, and the actor playing him (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are all upgrades.
Following Dolarhyde’s reveal, Mann seems in a rush to be done with his film, omitting the Harris novel’s Brooklyn Museum visit — a fascinating look into D’s mind — and truncates the film processor’s romance with his blind co-worker Reba (Joan Allen), jumping right from their first meeting at the lab to their “date” at a vet’s office where she pets a sedated tiger and then immediately to D’s house.
Though practically the same runtime (Red Dragon is a whopping four minutes longer), Ratner and Tally take their time developing the romance, work in a consensual sex scene, and the false explosive climax at Dolarhyde’s crumbling family estate. Manhunter’s reduced screen time with Dolarhyde also makes the killer’s motives extremely sketchy, and with the Blake painting making one brief appearance, it’s no wonder Mann opted for a different title.
Benefiting from hindsight, Red Dragon also resists the handful of corny needle drops that plague Manhunter. The use of The Prime Movers’ "Strong As I Am” is particularly cringe-worthy, as are The Reds’ big instrumental rock numbers. (Tangerine Dream in Thief, they are not.) And while there’s some chaotic beauty in Will crashing through D’s sliding glass door and nearly dying at the killer’s hands to the tune of Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," the choice severely dates the scene and has the power to incite eye-rolls decades later.
No such issues hamper Red Dragon, which opts for more timeless selections from Bach, Mendelssohn, and Barney Bigard and His Orchestra, plus one of Danny Elfman’s best scores outside of his Tim Burton collaborations. And rather than give Dolarhyde a basic death, its filmmakers honor Harris’ narrative, resulting in a more well-rounded conclusion that weaves in some laudable inventiveness on the screenwriter’s part.
Recognizing the debt that Red Dragon owes to Harris, Demme, and himself, Tally brilliantly connects the film directly to The Silence of the Lambs in such a way that it’s difficult to resist queuing up the tale of Clarice Starling after the credits roll. Yet with such a Lambs-esque take on Red Dragon, he and Ratner have also scratched that particular cinematic itch that only Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter can elicit, to the extent that Demme’s film can wait.
Red Dragon — Grade: B-plus. Rated R. Available on 4K and Blu-ray via Kino Lorber
Manhunter — Grade: C. Rated R. Available on Blu-ray and DVD
(Photos: Kino Lorber + Shout Factory; collages by AIPT + ballerlikemahler)
