 Red Dragon (2002) Red Dragon is yet more proof that good source material goes a long way towards making an excellent film. Can't say I had high hopes for this one, considering how tepid and sorry Hannibal was. But Red Dragon is scary and effective from the first scene, with great acting, excellent direction in the style of Jonathon Demme's Silence of the Lambs, and a nifty serial killer played by Ralph Fiennes. How Brett Ratner, who's best known for directing the Rush Hour movies, snagged, bagged, and tagged this one is a minor mystery, and no small miracle. He's managed to pull together a smashing ensemble cast (Anthony Hopkins of course, Ed Norton, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, plus cameos by Larry Blackmon of the band Cameo, and Verne Troyer as a breakdancing Christmas elf—the film is, after all, set in 1980). Yes, the last two are just wishful thinking, but despite those glaring omissions, it's still a damn good cast, and used just about as perfectly as one could hope. Surprises and shocks abound aplenty, and though the climax is a bit predictable (aren't they all?), it's very well played. And let's just say, without giving anything away, that if you thought the double-surprise ending of Lambs was scary, get ready for a triple-surprise involving a high-rise window washing rig, a SCUBA diver trapped in a shark tank, and a vat of acid. Trust me, when the acid falls into the shark tank and the tank explodes and the window bursts and the acid starts eating away at the ropes, you'll be biting your fingers to the bone. Yeah, just playing with you again. None of that happens. I have a word quota for these fricking reviews or I don't get my methadone. See, the Loud Bassoon isn't what it claims to be. They take heroin addicts (like me), pretend to rehabilitate us, but keep us all on methadone, watching movies and listening to records and eating candy all day. Sure, it sounds great, but if we don't keep up our quota of reviews, we don't get our methadone. And thus we review and review and review, day and night. This is not a joke. I am dead serious. If you want to save the lives and sanity of about six reformed heroin junkies being held hostage against their will, you will send the police to 8466 Linc—
Review by Crimedog |