Tried and tested

Hannibal Rising
Director: Peter Webber
Writer: Thomas Harris

Starring: Gaspard Ulliel, Li Gong, Rhys Ifans, Dominic West, Kevin McKidd, Aaron Thomas, Helena Lia Tachovska, Richard Brake
Genre: Drama / Horror / Thriller
Rating: 18
Running Time: 117 minutes
Seef Cineplex II  at  11.30am, 2pm, 4.30pm, 7pm, 9.30pm, 12 MN

IF you liked Hannibal, you cannot go wrong with the latest chapter in the canny cannibal’s oeuvres. Hannibal Rising is an origin story (every crazy, flesh-eating killer needs one – Leatherface got his last year, but with much-less satisfying results), influenced by a few pages from writer Thomas Harris’ Hannibal novel, which led to the Hannibal Rising book and movie.
This version methodically yet entertainingly goes from A to Z, first showing us the young Hannibal Lecter as a very young boy who’s scarred by a horrible incident perpetrated on his family by the Nazis, up to the final course in his menu of victims.
 From boyhood, we flash forward to a sleekly elegant, yet socially awkward teenaged Hannibal (Gaspard Ulliel), who’s leaving the orphanage and striking out on his own to find any remnants of kin. His trek leads him to the lovely, intelligent wife of his recently-deceased uncle. The Lady Murasaki (Gong Li) takes Hannibal under her wing, and together the pair pore over gruesome Japanese art, enjoy gourmet cuisine, and share secrets. But even the love of a beautiful woman cannot quell Hannibal's roving quest for retribution.
Truly a grand-guignol gothic revenge-western, Hannibal Rising is sumptuous cinematic experience. Director Peter Webber creates art in nearly every shot, without sparing we horror fans any of the gory details.
Gaspard Ulliel, while he looks nothing like the more mature Hopkins Hannibal, is cheeky indeed – he has got the languid grace, quippy tongue, and cold killing style we all love down-pat.
- Staci Layne Wilson