Before Silence of the Lambs before Red Dragon Hannibal Lecter was a brilliant psychiatrist in the employ of the FBI. His task: to help an unusually gifted criminal profiler Will Graham who is haunted by his ability to see into the minds of serial killers. After a particularly gruelling case hunting a serial killer known as the Minnesota Shrike Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) threatens to walk away. Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) the head of the FBI's Behavioural Science Unit desperately needs Will on his team to break the tough cases so he enlists Dr. Hannibal... Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) to ensure Will's mental well-being. Unbeknownst to Will Hannibal also has a particular insight into these horrible crimes and the psychopaths who commit them. As will hunts down brutal killers he is unknowingly sitting across from the most gifted killer of them all. Season one includes 13 Episodes. Special Features: First Look Featurette Forensics 101 Featurette [show more]
When you hear the name Hannibal Lecter, chances are that you immediately think of Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of the character in 'The Silence Of The Lambs' - eating someone's liver with "fava beans and a nice chianti", "having an old friend for dinner", or simply going "fufufufufufufufufuff".
That's the major obstacle that the TV series 'Hannibal' has to overcome. And in casting Mads Mikkelsen in the title role, it succeeds admirably, bringing a genuine sense of danger and intrigue back to a character that was increasingly at risk of being seen as simply an over-the-top pantomime villain. Because Mikkelsen's version is the polar opposite of Hopkins': quiet, calm, unemotional and reserved, this minimalist Hannibal is far more subtly sinister than the film version - and he's all the more menacing for it.
'Hannibal' is an interesting addition to the Hannibal Lecter mythos, covering a period of time that takes before 'The Silence Of The Lambs' - and even before that story's predecessor, 'Red Dragon' - when Hannibal's secret (that he's a psychopathic cannibalistic murderer) hasn't become public knowledge yet. In fact, not only is he still innocent in the eyes of the public, but he's actively involved in the life of FBI behavioural expert Will Graham (who fans will know as the hero of 'Red Dragon'), counselling Will as a friend and pseudo-psychiatrist in his personal life, at the same time as (apparently) aiding him in his professional investigations.
This makes Hannibal a far more multi-dimensional character than we've ever seen before in previous adaptations, putting a lot more meat on his bones (so to speak) and making him a lot more interesting as a result. And as the series goes on - and Will Graham (played by Hugh Dancy) gets drawn into an increasingly complex and psychologically-disturbing web of serial-killers and personal demons - we see Hannibal go to greater and greater lengths to both preserve his secret life as a criminal, and to bolster his friendship with the unwitting Will Graham.
Episodes of the series function as both standalone investigations of unusual serial killers, and as chapters of a larger story. This allows the show to be immediately accessible as a case-of-the-week type series from the start (early episodes are largely built around Will Graham's uncanny ability to empathise with killers when he looks at their crime scenes, thus helping the FBI to track them down), while at the same time building up an ensemble of characters that you get to know better and better as the cases go on. This means that when the series starts to shift its focus more and more onto its longer-running plot strands in the second half, you're already well-invested in the cast and interested in seeing how their roles in the story play out.
The most unique thing about the show is its striking, sometimes surreal imagery, that is used for all sorts of different aspects of the series. When Will Graham looks at a crime scene, his empathetic ability is depicted with a distinctive yellow "sweeping" effect - not unlike a glowing windscreen wiper - that peels back layers of information and reverses time, so that we can better understand how events played out. When Hannibal cooks up his sophisticated culinary offerings - most of which are made with human meat that is fed to the character's blissfully ignorant friends - it's all photographed so richly and lusciously that it feels like watching a brilliant cookery show (or an M&S Food advert). And when the psychological breakdowns of certain characters occur towards the end of this first season, it's accompanied by nightmarish images that - combined with Brian Reitzell's discordant, abstract music - create a truly disturbing atmosphere that's unparalleled by any other TV show that I've seen.
And that's not to mention the inventive murders that occur in each episode, many of which see their victims served up as complex tableaux that feature dead human bodies contorted into bizarre positions, or dissected in grotesque - but somehow artful - ways. This is certainly not a show for the squeamish - but at the same time, it never feels gratuitous either, always maintaing a strong sense of classiness and style, even when dealing with horrific subject matter (and the sophisticated visuals make it well worth checking out on blu-ray, which isn't something I'd say for many TV shows).
'Hannibal' is not all darkness and violence, though, as the show also mines a rich vein of black humour to help balance up the more serious aspects. Sometimes this comes from Hannibal's dry wit, and his double entendres that only the audience will understand (usually sly allusions to his crimes and cannibalism). And sometimes it comes from larger-than-life supporting characters. These include Freddie Lounds (played by Lara Jean Chorostecki), a gutter-level online tabloid journalist whose muck-raking antics and frizzy ginger hair seem designed to evoke Rebekah Brooks; Abel Gideon, another serial-killer in the Hannibal mould who is played by Eddie Izzard; and Raúl Esparza as Dr Frederick Chilton, the oddball director of a mental institution who specialises in serial killers. While these broad performances might seem slightly at odds with the more straight-laced and serious offerings of Dancy and Mikkelsen, they actually act as welcome relief: a kind of sorbet that helps you to better appreciate the main course, to lift one of the show's culinary metaphors.
I came to 'Hannibal' as a casual fan of the character, but I was sceptical that he could really support an entire TV series - especially one in which his well-known psychopathic tendencies and cannibalistic antics would be so suppressed by the nature of the story. However, after watching these 13 episodes in quick succession, I became utterly hooked by the characters, the plot, and the kinds of sophisticated visual flourishes that are still fairly rare in the world of television. It's testament to the power of the show that I had to immediately get hold of season two so that I could see how things progressed, and I'm already well on the way to completing that.
So be warned: this version of Hannibal doesn't just eat people - if you start watching his TV show, he'll quickly start eating into all your spare time too.
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Please note this is a region B Blu-ray and will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play. Before Silence of the Lambs, before Red Dragon, Hannibal Lecter was a brilliant psychiatrist in the employ of the FBI. His task: to help an unusually gifted criminal profiler, Will Graham, who is haunted by his ability to see into the minds of serial killers. After a particularly grueling case hunting a serial killer known as the Minnesota Shrike, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) threatens to walk away. Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), the head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, desperately needs Will on his team to break the tough cases, so he enlists Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), to ensure Will's mental well-being. Unbeknownst to Will, Hannibal also has a particular insight into these horrible crimes and the psychopaths who commit them. As Will hunts down brutal killers, he is unknowingly sitting across from the most gifted killer of them all. Season One includes 13 Episodes. Actors Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy & Laurence Fishburne Certificate 18 years and over Year 2013 Screen 1.78:1 Languages English
All 13 episodes from the first season of the US TV drama that examines the early relationship between up-and-coming FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and eminent psychiatrist, Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). Happily spending his days lecturing at the FBI academy, Will finds himself called in by Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), the head of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit, to help capture a serial killer who is on the rampage. Suffering from Asperger's Syndrome, Will struggles to control the thought processes that inform his uncanny ability to empathise with serial killers, a 'gift' which causes him no small discomfort. In an effort to ease some of the pressure on the young investigator his superiors decide to enlist the help of the renowned forensic psychiatrist, Hannibal Lecter, a move which has grisly implications for all concerned. The episodes are: 'Apéritif', 'Amuse-Bouche', 'Potage', 'Oeuf', 'Coquilles', 'Entrée', 'Sorbet', 'Fromage', 'Trou Normand', 'Buffet Froid', 'Rôti', 'Relevés' and 'Savoureux'.
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