Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta
Story rating: 3 discs (out of 4)
Story review: It’s been 10 years since America’s favorite man-eater got away in Silence of the Lambs–a decade later we get to see what he has been up to. In this third installment of author Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter trilogy, our antihero is living comfortably in Florence, Italy, as an art scholar. Mason Verger, Hannibal’s one surviving victim and archenemy, is determined to track him down–he wants revenge and will pay any amount to get it. When Hannibal gets wind about a bounty on his head, he hightails it back to the states to contact old chum FBI agent Clarice Starling. Starling, meanwhile, has been suspended for duty over a questionable police shooting by a corrupt Justice Dept. superior who resents her success. A must-see–fans of horror movies will eat this one up.
Features rating: 3 1/2 discs (out of 4)
Features review: Now this is what a DVD two-disc set is all about. On the first disc, Ridley Scott‘s audio commentary offers a thorough discussion of such things as his reasons for choosing Julianne Moore to play Clarice when Jodie Foster passed on the part, where he thinks Hannibal has been since his escape in the first film, what it took to translate Harris’s book to the screen, and the much-discussed ending of the film.
The second disc contains only extra features. “Breaking the Silence: The Making of Hannibal” is an hour-long collection of five featurettes about the film’s development, production, makeup, music and public reaction with a lot of behind-the-scenes video footage.
In addition to the featurettes, three vignettes contain audio tracks and multiple video angles that the viewer can switch between by hitting the “angle” button on their remote. “Anatomy of a Shoot-Out” offers a chance to see the four camera angles that were used in an action-heavy FBI drug bust scene. “Ridleygrams” is an examination of Scott’s storyboards that includes an interview with the director, reveals the boards themselves and compares them to the finished film. “Title Design” shows the title sequence in various stages of completion and includes four different sound options including commentary from Scott and designer Nick Livesey.
Some 35 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes are also here, including an alternate ending. Scott offers commentary for each of these scenes, most of which are fairly uninteresting; he also discusses a third ending that was never shot. An extensive stills and poster gallery, a collection of trailers and TV spots, cast and crew bios, and production notes are also included on this second disc.
Bottom line: As wonderfully malevolent as this movie is, the second disc, solely dedicated to special features, is worth watching by itself. This is a must-buy for any DVD collector.
Special features list:
Digitally mastered audio and anamorphic video
Widescreen and full-screen presentation
Audio: English 5.1 (Dolby Digital) and 2-channel (Dolby Surround)
Languages: English, French, Spanish
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Feature-length director’s audio commentary–Ridley Scott
Alternate ending with optional director’s audio commentary
Deleted and alternate scenes with optional director’s audio commentary
“Breaking the Silence”: 5 unique making-of featurettes including rare footage and interviews
3 multi-angle vignettes
Stills and poster gallery
Theatrical trailers
TV spots
Cast and crew bios
Production notes
