Red Dragon (2002)

"Red Dragon Returns the Series to The Silence of the Lambs Form...  Jack Matthews, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
"Brilliant. Darkly Seductive...  Richard Corliss, TIME
"Brett Ratner's Red Dragon delivers the goods in scary fun.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"Anthony Hopkins Proves Once Again That Hannibal Lecter Is The Most Frightening Villian In Cinematic History.  CNN
"Ralph Fiennes And Emily Watson Give Film-Stealing Performances.  USA TODAY
"Lovers of the original The Silence of the Lambs will be ecstatic to see that cinematic lightning can strike twice.  Brian Webster, Apollo Guide
"The Most Chilling, Heart-Pounding Thriller You Will See This Year!  Access Hollywood
"A Terrific Film... Astounding... Astonishing. You've Got To See This Movie.  Good Morning America
" A bowel-curdling, heart-stopping recipe for terror.  Ron Stringer, L.A. Weekly
"Mesmerizing... An A-Plus Cast!  The Washington Journal
"A Suspenseful Masterpiece!  Shawn Edwards, FOX-TV

Editor's Note Based on the novel by Thomas Harris, RED DRAGON stars Edward Norton as Will Graham, the intuitive FBI agent who captured the notorious Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). When another killer, dubbed "the Tooth Fairy," begins a series of bizarre, seemingly random killings, the now-retired Graham reluctantly agrees to aid in the investigation. In order to get further into the mind set of the murderer, Graham consults the imprisoned Lecter, who offers cryptic commentary that the determined agent must decipher. However, the Tooth Fairy himself, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes), is also in contact with the infamous epicurean, and the case soon develops into a deadly cat-and-mouse game, with Lecter deviously playing both sides. Rather than attempting to remake MANHUNTER--Michael Mann's 1986 adaptation of RED DRAGON starring William L. Petersen as Graham and Brian Cox as Lecter--or recreate the monster-movie atmosphere of HANNIBAL, director Brett Ratner wisely chooses to focus on the character-driven specifics of the first Hannibal Lecter novel. As in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, the unblinking Hopkins makes the most out of his screen time as the eloquent yet terrifying former forensic psychologist. Norton is excellently understated as the talented investigator, while Fiennes explores the full range of his conflicted character, from a sensitive man-child to a methodical psychopath. These key performances are enhanced by strong supporting turns by Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Harvey Keitel, and Mary-Louise Parker. Ratner's capable direction extends to his choice of crew, which includes SILENCE OF THE LAMBS screenwriter Ted Tally and production designer Kristen Zea, as well as MANHUNTER cinematographer Dante Spinotti. This collection of talent combines to create an engaging and eerie thriller that brings the Hopkins-as-Lecter trilogy full circle.

	Anthony Heald
	Anthony Hopkins
	Edward Norton
	Emily Watson
	Harvey Keitel
	Mary-Louise Parker
	Philip Seymour Hoffman
	Ralph Fiennes
	Thomas Harris - Based On Novel By
	Thomas Harris - Based On The Book By
	Francine Maisler - Casting By
	Dante Spinotti - Cinematographer
	Betsy Heimann - Costume Designer
	Brett Ratner - Directed By
	Brett Ratner - Director
	Dante Spinotti - Director of Photography
	Mark Helfrich - Edited By
	Mark Helfrich - Editor
	Andrew Z. Davis - Executive Producer
	Danny Elfman - Music By
	Danny Elfman - Original Music
	Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis - Produced By
	Dino De Laurentiis - Producer
	Martha Schumacher - Producer
	Kristi Zea - Production Designer
	Ted Tally - Screenplay
	Ted Tally - Screenplay By

USA Today
"...RED DRAGON lets Anthony Hopkins have more fun for fun's sake than he has ever had playing history's most urbane cannibal..." 10/04/2002 p.13D

Variety
"...Hannibal Lecter scores again in RED DRAGON....Inescapably creepy....An intense, unnerving experience..." 09/30/2002 p.24-71

Chicago Sun-Times
"...[Ratner] does a sure, stylish job, appreciating the droll humor of Lecter's predicament, creating a depraved new villain in the Tooth Fairy, and using the quiet intense skills of Norton..." 10/04/2002 p.35

Total Film
"...A deeply atmospheric chiller that maintains a constant hum of droning menace....You'll be gnawing away at your cuticles..." 11/01/2002 p.100-1

Box Office
"...An exceptional thriller....Solid, well-crafted..." 12/01/2002 p.62

San Francisco Chronicle 7 of 10
Red Dragon has a suitably dark, dread-inducing look, with photography by Dante Spinotti (L.A. Confidential) and sets by Silence of the Lambs production designer Kristi Zea. The actors have a good workout and Hopkins earns his enormous paycheck, but at day's end it all feels like a revved-up, market-driven rehash of a once-thrilling film. - Edward Guthmann

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
A movie like Red Dragon is all atmosphere and apprehension. Ratner doesn't give us as much violence or as many sensational shocks as Scott did in Hannibal, but that's a plus: Lecter is a character who commands contemplation and unease, and too much action just releases the tension. To be sure, Scott was working with a Thomas Harris novel that itself went so high over the top (remember the quadriplegic murdered with an electric eel?) that much of it could not be filmed. But this movie, based on Harris' first novel, has studied Silence of the Lambs and knows that the action comes second to general creepiness. There are stabbings, shootings, fires, explosions, tortures, mutilations, and a flaming corpse in a wheelchair, but within reason. - Roger Ebert

San Francisco Examiner 8 of 10
Hopkins' Lecter once again makes an unabashedly amoral and shockingly amusing impact as modern cinema's most sardonically erudite bogeyman. Unfortunately, Edward Norton doesn't make a very worthy adversary as the new and not-so-improved Will Graham. While Norton gives a perfectly adequate and occasionally compelling performance, he provides nothing like the profoundly spooked-out gravitas that made William Petersen so riveting in Manhunter. - Joe Leydon