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The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
2/04, 2/08, 5/20
2/08:
The Silence of the Lambs benefits a lot from Jonathan Demme's direction, but
Manhunter is the superior picture in every aspect.
Anthony Hopkins overacts. To this day, people are still apeshit over his character. I have no idea why, but I venture to
guess it has a lot to do with his fancy half hockey mask. Believe it or not, Anthony Hopkins was unknown before the film
came out, and since then, he's a household name.
Jodie Foster is a joke, and it's impossible to take her seriously. At least, she's a better choice over Michelle
Pfeiffer and Meg Ryan who were given the first dibs. It would've been a disaster otherwise. Laura Dern was in the running
for the role, and I could actually see her as Clarice Starling.
Some scenes are well-done, invoking grittiness which adds tension to the buildup of what's coming. The biggest letdown is
the lack of an internal investigation which is why Manhunter works better. One part
that bothers me greatly is how it is that a rookie agent, who's unintelligent much of the time, is able to outwit the more
experienced veterans.
All in all, The Silence of the Lambs is okay, but it's overrated.
5/20:
Still inferior to Manhunter in every aspect, The Silence of the Lambs is
overrated.
What I hate the most is the high number of extreme close-ups. I can see the contact lenses on a couple of thespians.
Michael Mann wasn't stupid to go that far. Jodie Foster is the other problem: so much fucking attention devoted to
her character. How is it that a not-yet-sworn-FBI-agent with zero field experience is given the green light to investigate
a serial killer? In the meantime, why was Hannibal moved to a makeshift jail in some museum? Couldn't they have put him in
an established prison?
Everybody raves about Anthony Hopkins' performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, but I'm not buying any of it. The fact of matter
is that he was showboating. Brian Cox nailed the part perfectly, and the genius of Michael Mann was to limit his screen
time. What bothers me about Anthony Hopkins' character is he seems to know many things, even the arcane details, on just
about every topic there is. It's impossible.
I've tried to give Jodie Foster the benefit of the doubt since 1991, but she's really fake...the West Virginia kind of fake.
It's amazing how her character is so brilliant who's able to get everything correct, even on her first try. Remember
Louis Friend? She got it right just like that; that's a difficult anagram with literally thousands of valid words.
The day that Clarice Starling came to Fredrica Bimmel's bedroom, the very first object she picked up was the music box with
a secret compartment. Now, how in the world did she know the dirty pictures would be in there? Similarly, she managed to
guess there might be something overlooked inside one of the victims' throat which turned out to be a moth cocoon. Give
me a fucking break. And she finds the serial killer on her own? Please, that never happens.
Why was the black woman running hard in the hallway so she could tell Starling about the latest developments?
It wasn't anything important. Then, they both huddled together to try to figure out some stuff when in fact they looked
like high school idiots. Earlier, Starling came up with some "deductions" of her own to explain why Buffalo Bill was acting
this or that way; I was rolling my eyes as in "did you just make up that shit?"
On the positive side, there are good performances by Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, and Ted Levine. The photography is gritty
and realistic. I like the flow when it comes to examining the crimes but hate the scenes that consist of Hannibal's
pointless questions about Starling's personal life.
All in all, Manhunter is perfect while The Silence of the Lambs is unbelievable.