Review of Red Dragon (2 Discs)

Introduction

First, I must point out this is a review of the first disc only, not the extras disc.

Red Dragon is the prequel to the Hollywood blockbuster license of the Lambs about a serial killer with a taste for human flesh (and decent wines). Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant doctor turned cannibal.

In this prequel, we see Hannibal incarcerated by FBI Special Agent Will Graham (Ed Norton) who is seriously injured in the process. Many years later, he is called to help with a series of grisly murders and reluctantly decides he needs the help of Lecter to catch the killer.

Red Dragon is a lot more like The Silence of the Lambs than Hannibal, being more psychological than gruesome.

Video

As is expected with a big, modern, hollywood production video is excellent. The film is presented in widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1 and has no obvious failings.

Colour balance is great, blacks (which are important in films of this genre :) show good detail and colours are nicely saturated.

There`s no sign of any digital artefacting, no jaggies and certainly no dust or scratches.

It`s not perfect, there`s some softness occasionally but I am just being picky now.

Audio

Excellent use is made of the surround tracks in this Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There`s often not too much happening behind you but what is there really adds to the general ambiance of the film and is well mixed and controlled (unlike some action flicks which have you swiveling around all the time to check that there really aren`t helicopters firing missiles through your walls - in this case you don`t really dare turn round)

Dialogue is always clear, Hopkins` excellent and chilling diction comes across perfectly and there`s no sign of any hissing or other intrusions.

No complaints.

Features

On the feature disc we get a fairly typical but perfectly adequate commentary track by Ratner and Tally which is worth a separate viewing, and a music score commentary with composer Danny Elfman which is more interesting as it is more unusual.

Disc 2, which I have not seen contains the following:

Deleted scenes including alternative and extended scenes
Visual effects
Screen and film tests
`FBI Profile: Inside The Mind Of A Serial Killer` featurette
Director Brett Ratner`s untitled student film
The Leeds house crime scene
`A Director`s Journey`: Brett Ratner`s video diary
Storyboard to final feature comparison
`The Burning Wheelchair` featurette
`Anthony Hopkins: Hannibal Lecter And Me`
Character make-up
etc

Which is lots

Conclusion

Whilst not as good as the original Silence of the Lambs, this is, IMHO much better than the gruesome Hannibal as it goes back to the more cerebral, thought-provoking stuff of the first one.

Hopkins is great as always and Ed Norton makes a good counterpart. Feinnes is excellent, probably one of his best performances and the rest of the cast are also very good.

If you enjoyed Silence, you`ll like this. Lecter himself is by no means the most important character in Red Dragon he plays an excellent supporting role!

Not having seen the extras disc, I cannot rate those ....