Manhunter (1986)

Director: Michael Mann
Starring: William L. Petersen, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan

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I've never really been able to make much heads or tails of the adaptation of Thomas Harris' books. I think what really bothered me was the structure of the films. Now I can understand giving us the point of view of Hannibal Lector (spelled Lecktor in Manhunter) and the POV of the FBI investigator is a given, but I never could understand why we got the point of view of the killer. I can maybe understand it in a Here's What We're Dealing With Here kind of sense, but I don't really care much about that. I'd rather see the effects of the actions and extrapolate for myself what kind of person could do these things. This is what made Se7en such an interesting serial killer movie. In addition to the premise behind the killings being interesting, the film holds off on delivering us the killer all the way until the third act. Even here, as an audience we've already made the picture in our heads, but we get the rug pulled out from under us when we finally get to meet the bastard. I certainly wasn't thinking of Lester Burnham, and me thinks you weren't either. In the Harris films, we're introduced to the killers fairly early on. We're sometimes asked to sympathize with them. Most of all, however, we simply become acclimated to them, and they--at least for me--lose their power to frighten. Manhunter is the same as the rest of them except that Ralph Fiennes makes a better Francis Dolarhyde than Tom Noonan; somehow the character of Will Graham comes off wooden no matter who plays him. Gotta love that dated synth music though. Oh, and Dolarhyde doesn't have the tatoos in Manhunter because he thought it would be over the top. With that in mind, check out how much obvious colored light he uses. Compare it to the way George Romero uses colored light much more effectively--mostly because he's trying to be hokey--in Creepshow (1982). While Manhunter is certainly not the best in the Thomas Harris series, it's certainly not the worst (Hannibal, anyone?).

July 1
apartment TV/computer DVD-ROM, afternoon/late evening

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