"Hannibal is terrific. It’s not really a surprise, given the considerable talents of Hannibal's
executive producer and showrunner, Bryan Fuller, whose highly creative
mind has given us wonderfully eccentric shows like Pushing Daisies and
Wonderfalls, and who solidified just how strong he could be working with
more serious-minded genre stories via his episodes of Heroes in Season
1, especially the standout “Company Man.”"
"The casting is key in Hannibal, starting with Mads Mikkelsen in the
title role. The Danish actor, best known for Casino Royale, captures the
combination of brilliance, arrogance and creepiness we equate with
Hannibal, while not feeling like he’s copying Hopkins."
"Also excellent is Hugh Dancy as Graham, who, despite the title, is
the true lead character. Hannibal takes Harris’ ideas about Graham and
expands them in really well thought out ways."
"The pilot was directed by David Slade, who also does a tremendous job of
creating the world this series will exist in and making it feel
distinct and evocative. There is a certain visual manner in which we see
the way Will sees a crime scene – how he, mentally, takes himself back
in time through the crime. This visual is very cool, involving stylistic
wipes across the screen that sweep away what is currently happening and
reveal what happened before."
I really do hope they let this play out until the end of the Red Dragon plot. The first five episodes have received wonderful reviews and the clips and interviews make it clear they have a well thought-out arc for the plot. However, I don't think I'd like to see Silence redone--trying to top Hopkins and Foster would be reaching a bit too far.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree, I think the movie version of SoTL was a complete and excellent adaption of the book. I think the TV will follow Will Graham post-Red Dragon which could be very exciting.
ReplyDeleteIm guilty of noticing the accent of danish actors more than most because im danish, and while most danes usually know that we are pretty good english speakers, we also tend to dislike our danish english. Its not exactly sexy like british.....
ReplyDeleteMads is probably the one I notice the most, but I really hope that americans won't notice it too much, because I really feel that his performance will overshadow any talk of that.
I can't speak for the Americans, but as an Irishman I think Mads has a really cool accent, and his performance will definitely remove all other considerations.
ReplyDeleteSome reviewers have said that his accent makes him difficult to understand at times, but that his performance is so good overall that those difficult moments won't be noticed.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Just noticed in one of the clips that Dr. Lecter attacks an FBI agent in his office, sneaking up on her in stocking feet. Yet another plum from the novels that I'd been waiting to see depicted on film.