From time to time, the reputation of a film is set so quickly that it becomes a shortcut for failure. Some recent examples of this are visse led by Sony as Morbius And Madame WebWhat everyone knew would fail. A film, however, which fell unexpectedly to this fate was from 2001 Hannibal.

This frightening, gore and long -awaited suite was immediately marked as a flop due to flowing problems, crew changes and the global encodium. And yet, brushing the film is entirely a massive error. Hannibal Never held a chance to live The silence of the lambsBut he actually exceeded the film with a specific scene that rarely, if never talked about.

Hannibal was a controversial suite of the very beginning

The silence of the lambs He was not just a darling of the award season and a better image winner. The film is with tenderness 34 years as one of the greatest films of all time, and perhaps the greatest adaptation of a novel to the screen in Hollywood history. While other films of this level are generally alone (Citizen Kane,, The redemption of Shawshank, seven samurai), a series of The silence of the lambs has never been entirely excluded from the fact that Thomas Harris is committed to writing other novels for adaptation purposes. After a long expectation of eight years, this suite finally arrived in 1999, and the media came to life with reactions.

The book was published at an incredible reception, and it became the second best -selling novel in 1999. Although the frenzy was clearly still alive for another eight -year -old material, the expectation of eight years had wreaks havoc on the film industry. During these eight years, the inheritance of The silence of the lambs He camea later, and the expectations of the inevitable suite continued to go more and more and more accordingly. This burden led to skepticism around the distribution and the crew.

The first domino to die for was the director Jonathan Demme, who refused the offer due to his discovery The material also “bloody” and “Luride”. Shortly after the decision of Demme, the screenwriter Ted Tally refused the project and quoted the “excess” of the novel as his main reason. The real booter of most fans, however, was when Jodie Foster refused the project. Demme and Tally slipped their words during the articulation of the justification of their decisions, but Foster simply refused, saying:

“The official reason I have not done Hannibal Did I make another film, Flora Plum. So I can say, in a worthy way, that I was not available when this film was shot … Clarice wanted to say so much for Jonathan and I, she really did it, and I know that it seems a little strange to say, but there was no way that one of us could really trample them. “”

Despite all this, the production for Hannibal continued, to the dismay of certain fans and to the pleasure of others. The film was controversial of the jump, but never without hope. Fans and criticisms have kept hope for HannibalAnd, unfortunately, most of them found themselves disappointed.

Critics loved the silence of the lambs, but were skeptical about Hannibal

Credit: Image via Orion Pictures

Starting a victory for the best image generally means that criticisms were in heels in love with your film. There are certainly exceptions to this rule (Crash, Green Book, Out of Africa), but The silence of the lambs is not one of them. The masterpiece of Jonathan Demme struck the cinemas and made small waves in circles that love cult films. During the year which followed, however, the criticisms took note and transformed the film in favor of the awards season. From this moment, the film was certified as an instant classic.

The silence of the lambs Won the Big Five Academy Awards. The film won the best film, the best director (Jonathan Demme), the best actor (Anthony Hopkins), the best actress (Jodie Foster), and the best adapted scenario (Tad Tally), becoming only the third film in history to accomplish this feat. This critical worship continues to this day with a pair of positive dimensions on rotten tomatoes. In September 2025, The silence of the lambs has a new 95% certified score of criticism and a note identical to 95% of the public.

Given the incredible effusion of the support of fans, criticism and members of the academy, it is clear to see that there were high expectations for the inevitable suite of The silence of the lambs. After the unhappy start with Demme, Foster and Tally decreasing, things started looking for the project. Anthony Hopkins confirmed his return as Hannibal Lecter holder. A casting of talented names, including Ray Liotta, Julianne Moore (as Starling) and Gary Oldman, completed the support distribution. David Mamet (Les Intouchables, Glengarry Glen Ross, Ronin) joined the team to write the script. And the Ridley Scott, heated to red, which was fresh from its victory for the best film for Gladiatorwas even used to direct the project.

Despite all that, Hannibal was the victim of a horrible critical reception, and he was never completely clear what is the exact reason. Some have labeled it too rude. Some have noted that the film exchanged the insight of the first film for more gore without emotion. While others simply called the “boring” film. At the end of the day, however, the film’s failures are simpler than that, because she has never had a chance to escape from the shadow of her predecessor.

Even those who loved the film could not completely ignore its faults. Todd McCarthy of Variety gave the film a generally positive criticism, but said the following:

“”Hannibal is not as good as Lambs … finally more shallow and coarse in his heart than his predecessor, Hannibal is nevertheless attractive, captivating and sometimes surprising. “”

This eternal status in the shadow of The silence of the lambs was directly translated as modern critical scores of the film. In September 2025, Ridley Scott misguided Hannibal To a rotten score of 39% on the rotten tomatoes of criticism, as well as a somewhat positive score of 62% compared to the public. The film does not do much better on other aggregated sites either. The film boasts a controversial note of 3.3 / 5 on LetterBoxD and a note 57/100 on Metacritic.

Hannibal has 1 perfect scene (and this is not the 1 that you think)

Credit: Image via Universal Pictures

In itself, Hannibal Does not have much inheritance to speak. As mentioned earlier, the film lies in the monstrous shadow of its predecessor, but it is not the only project overshadowing it both in quality and in attention. Scott’s film was immediately followed a year later by Red dragon, Which, despite its managed by a controversial name, behaved incredibly well with criticism and fans. Hannibal is not even the most popular The silence of the lambs-Djacent Project by the name of “Hannibal”. When the film is raised in Polite Company, the most common answer will be sure “you mean the television show?”.

While the heritage of Ridley Scott Hannibal Continue to decrease day by day, there is a moment or two in execution time which are guaranteed to live for eternity. The most commonly referenced moments of the film are the dinner scene with Paul de Ray Liotta, and the emblematic quote to Lecter by Anthony Hopkins, “I want us to be able to chat longer, but … I have an old friend for dinner.”, And rightly. These moments are frightening, daring and really feel in the spirit of the original film by Jonathan Demme, but they are not specific to Hannibal.

This film, Despite all its faults, deserves its own heritage, and there is only one scene that provides it. Halfway through the film, the three-year-old man for Hannibal accelerates, and the Starling agent takes matters into his own hands. This scene is known as the stage “followed Hannibal”. He presents that the agent Starling is desperately looking for Hannibal Lecter while they cross a shopping center and communicate on the phone. The scene borrows both elegantly from its predecessor through a haunting Hannibal dialogue, while carving out a completely unique path through a truly ingenious use of sound design.

While Hannibal walks through the shopping center, Starling can hear noises in the background and traces it through the crowded Labyrinth shopping center based on what she hears. He goes through a trinket stand, not detected, he passes in front of a game orchestra, not detected and finds himself on a carousel, and narrowly avoids the starling with a hair. The scene consists of just over two minutes, but feels absolutely endless. During these few minutes, Scott increases the voyeuristic feeling to the nth degree, and the result is one of the most frightening violence scenes ever turned.

Release date

February 9, 2001

Execution time

132 minutes

Director

Ridley Scott

Writers

David Mamet, Steven Zaillian