Filmdom’s greatest villain, Hannibal Lecter, has been both defanged and declawed.  More a Grimm fairy tale than suspense-filled mystery, “Hannibal Rising” introduces us to the young Lecter as a boy in Lithuania.  In the midst of the Nazi blitzkrieg, the Lecter family leaves its castle estate for the more humble, secluded and seemingly safe walls of a small hunting lodge. 



Lecter (Aaron Thomas as the young Hannibal) and his sister, Mischa (Helena Lia Tachovska), watch as their parents and household staff are killed in cross fire between Russian and German militia.  The children are left alone. 



But not for long.  This modern-day Hansel and Gretel are soon held captive by a band of former Nazi sympathizers-turned-opportunistic looters, led by the particularly cruel Grutas (Rhys Ifans), who is far more terrifying and evil here than Lecter.  Snowbound less than a day, Grutas and crew decide to eat Mischa (who, they rationalize, has pneumonia and will soon die anyway). 



Russians eventually attack the cabin, the looters flee, and Lecter spends eight years in his family’s former home (now a Soviet-run orphanage) before escaping to France, where he meets up with his only surviving relative, his uncle’s Japanese-born widow, Lady Murasaki (Gong Li). 



The now-grown Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) has his blood lust ignited when he kills a French butcher for publicly insulting his aunt. The butcher, it turns out, also sent several Jewish children to their deaths in concentration camps; none of Lecter’s victims are innocent.  From there, Lecter methodically hunts down and kills all of the men who murdered his sister — eating a part of each of them as retribution. 



Ulliel, a French actor who bares a striking resemblance to American-born actor Crispin Glover, does manage to perfect a menacing stare, but it is more reminiscent of Norman Bates than Hannibal the Cannibal. 



Li, as his aunt and reluctant partner in crime, evokes the most sympathy.  Here is a woman who has lost her own family and husband on Hiroshima and finds herself clinging to her nephew, the only thing she has left in the world.  In her efforts to protect Hannibal, she covers up his crimes and soon finds herself drawn into his web of revenge that will ultimately consume any remaining shred of his humanity. 



Thomas Harris (who wrote the book that is the basis of the film as well as the screenplay) should know that the things that go bump in the night only scare us when it’s dark and the lights are all off. 



Simply put, evil works best when it remains unknown and unexplained.  Harris succeeds by explaining away Lecter’s motives and actions (and thus rousing sympathy for the devil he has created), but he has thrown the closet door open wide and the monster inside doesn’t seem as frightening anymore. 



Worse still, there aren’t any twists or surprises — it’s like being served a plate of fava beans and a glass of Chianti without the liver. 



hannibal rising ★★



Starring: Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li and Helena Lia Tachoyska



Director: Peter Webber



Rated: R for strong grisly violent     content and some language/sexual references