After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.
Hopkins, who is electrifying in almost anything he does, reprises the mastery he brought to Silence of the Lambs. Even in a movie as patchworky as this, he's always compelling.
– Desson Thomson,
Washington Post,
9 Feb 2001
rotten:
Simply a fat slab of sadism.
– David Edelstein,
Slate,
12 Feb 2001
rotten:
Hannibal definitely grabs at the emotions, but not the one it's after. You come in hoping to have the wits scared out of you and leave with your temper barely in check.
– Rick Groen,
Globe and Mail,
19 Mar 2002
rotten:
Hannibal Lecter is the ostensible cannibal of this franchise, but the real cannibals are his creators. I wouldn't be surprised if the next time, they have him endorsing his favorite Chianti.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
26 Sep 2002
fresh:
The weight-watchers script sensibly dispenses with several characters to serve a brew that's enjoyably spicy but low on substance.