The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

TR Tene TTR, 12 - "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2001 More gore, less terror; Hannibal's a big letdown From page 9 It seems that Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), a psycho multi-millionaire, wants to capture Lecter and feed him to this pack of wild pigs (no kidding), thereby extract- ing justice for Lecter having forced Verger to cut off parts of his own face years before. Having survived the horrific encounter with Lecter, Verger, a convicted pedophile, is hell-bent on revenge; thus the cannibal- istic doctor becomes the hunted, the vic- tim, so to speak, of the equally demented Mason Verger. Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) races against time to find the doc- tor, who is thrilled she is back on the case, because it means their curious dance of intellect will continue. Anthony Hopkins is among the greatest actors on the planet, something he has proven time and time again over the last 10 years since winning the coveted Oscar for his performance as Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. | remember being stunned by the originality of the perfor- mance, the choices he made as an actor, the sense of dread he created with each syllable uttered as he toyed with Clarice and the audience. His performances in Howard's End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993), Amistad (1997), and perhaps best of all Nixon (1995) followed his tri- umph as Lecter, though audiences still see the actor as Hannibal. I think both Hannibal, and Hopkins' performance in the title role will sadly dis- appoint the fans of the original film. Everything he did in the original film is intact, that unblinking, laser stare, the wonderfully droll line readings, even the sense of danger that radiates whenever he is on screen, but there is something sadly lacking. In the sequel there are too many efforts to create laugh lines for Lecter after wrong doing, there is far too great an effort to make the serial killer the hero of the piece, which I found offensive. When (and why?) did Hannibal Lecter become the good guy? By making Verger a monster and pedophile, of course we are going to side with Lecter and the film mak- ers manipulate us to do just that. We should feel horrified that Lecter is still on the loose, wanting to return to "public life" in such a bad way. We should feel for his victims, but we do not. It was as if the killings in the film became suddenly justi- fied because audiences responded so strongly to the first film, and the character. Here, Lecter has become a part of pop culture; the droll killer who kills and cuts his prey, dispatching them with a witty comment that aptly displays his intelli- gence. Is that not a betrayal of the first film, which was genuinely terrifying? The gore and violence in the film are brutal; in particular a dinner sequence involving Lecter, Moore and co-star Ray Liotta, that will go down in history as one of the most gruesome scenes in movie lore. Do we need to see as much as the film makers show us? Nope, because going into this picture, we were already terrified of Hannibal Lecter. As for the casting of Julianne Moore, tak- ing over for Jodie Foster, she does just fine because she is a great actress. But because she is a great actress, one would hope they could find more for her to do. Granted she is forced to act within the barriers set out by Foster in her Oscar winning perfor- mance, but Moore is gifted enough to rise above that. The scenes between her and Lecter have a nice crackle to them, but they get together far too late in the film to save the picture. Sadly, the screenplay lets her down, and | found myself wishing the film was closer to the dark, horrifying novel. Had they decided to make the film closer to the book, the ending would have offered demands for both the audience and per- haps the actors, who would have been forced to reach deep into their obvious tal- ents to make it work. The ending of Harris' book was dark, grim, and annoyed Jodie Foster enough not to do the film, but it worked. Hannibal is among the most hotly antic- ipated films of 2001, and despite strong earnings the first weekend, it is hardly the film we hoped it would be. Director Ridley Scott made a fatal decision here by choos- ing to make the picture gory, and I must admit 1 am shocked at his cop-out. Scott directed the masterful Blade Runner (1982), Thelma and Louise (1991) and last year's massive Gladiator (2000), so there is little question of his talents. Perhaps he was simply misguided by the product, or felt the need to break from the original film. A crushing, major disappointment, made watchable by the fascinating Anthony Hopkins...but he should not be looking for a second Oscar for this one. ii iL winner Fabulous cars! The Oshawa General Hospital Foundation is back with the Cash For Cancer Lottery. With incredible 1 in 7 odds, it's Y With Zin70dds; the lucky could be you! Raa Fantastic vacations Jor two! your chance to win great prizes and support a great cause. Every ticket purchased helps fund the development of the NEW Durham Regional Cancer Centre. Buy your ticket now for a shot at our Early Bird Prizes. Get your ticket today! Prizes may not be exactly as shown, nna --_--