Region:
DVD Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
Audio: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel
Language: English, Spanish, French
Subtitles: Spanish, French
Weight factor: 1 item(s)

Plot Synopsis

Following the phenomenal success of The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, Anthony Hopkins returns as brilliant madman Hannibal Lecter in this thriller based on the novel in which author Thomas Harris introduced the character. Will Graham (Edward Norton) is an FBI agent with a rare gift for tracking serial killers who brought Hannibal Lecter to justice; however, his confrontation with Lecter proved to be a bloody, near-death experience, and afterward Graham retired from the Bureau, moving to Florida to spend his time with his wife, Molly (Mary-Louise Parker), and their son. However, a particularly grisly killer is on the loose, and Jack Crawford (Harvey Keitel), Graham's one-time mentor at the Bureau, asks him to return to duty to find him. The "Tooth Fairy" is a vicious murderer who kills entire families at once, covering the eyes of his victims with bits of a shattered mirror. Graham finds he needs help putting together the pieces of the "Tooth Fairy" case, and he calls upon Lecter looking for advice. Lecter, at once vaguely helpful and self-serving, as usual, offers scraps of information to Graham which help him zero in on the killer. But Lecter knows more than he's telling; the "Tooth Fairy" is actually Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes), a troubled and withdrawn man who admires Lecter's violent panache and corresponds with him. Dolarhyde works at a film processing lab, where one of his co-workers, a blind woman named Reba McClane (Emily Watson), seems to be quite attracted to him. As Dolarhyde wrestles with both his murderous impulses and his feelings for McClane, Lecter plays Graham and Dolarhyde against one another so that, as the FBI agent comes closer to catching "the Tooth Fairy," Dolarhyde moves in on his next victim -- Graham's family. Red Dragon marked the second time Harris' novel of the same name had been brought to the screen; five years prior to The Silence of the Lambs, Michael Mann adapted the book for the screen as Manhunter, which starred William Petersen as Graham and Brian Cox as Lecter. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Editorial Reviews:

Red Dragon is certainly worthy of its relationship to Silence of the Lambs (unlike the superfluous Hannibal). Ted Tally's uncanny ability to translate Thomas Harris' work for the screen (he won the Oscar for his adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, provides a solid story as well as juicy parts for each member of the highly talented ensemble. Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel and Anthony Hopkins are all given extreme characters to play, and they do a superb job of not overplaying the material. They make serial killers, a blind woman that loves a serial killer, and the cops that chase serial killers all believable. Philip Seymour Hoffman deserves special notice for stealing every scene he is in, as well as for providing welcome laughs in tense situations that still fail to dissipate that tension. The most noticeable difference between Red Dragon and the previous adaptation, Michael Mann's Manhunter, is that the character of Will Graham has been changed. In the book, as well as in Manhunter, Graham is on the edge of a total mental breakdown. His ability to think like Lecter, the skill that allowed for Lecter's capture, took a heavy psychic toll on him and his loved ones. In this film, Graham is cool and in control. This change makes the film a different entity from both the book and Manhunter. While Red Dragon is closer to the letter of the book, Manhunter is closer to the spirit. Both are worthwhile films. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide