Red Dragon (2002 film)

Red Dragon is a 2002 psychological horror film based on the 1981 novel by Thomas Harris. It was directed by Brett Ratner and written by Ted Tally. A prequel to The Silence of the Lambs (1991), it sees FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) enlisting the help of serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to catch another killer, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes). Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker, and Philip Seymour Hoffman also star. The novel was previously adapted into the film Manhunter (1986). Red Dragon was released on 4 October 2002 and received mixed reviews.

Red Dragon
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBrett Ratner
Produced by
Screenplay byTed Tally
Based onRed Dragon
by Thomas Harris
Starring
Music byDanny Elfman
CinematographyDante Spinotti
Edited byMark Helfrich
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures[1]
Release date
  • October 4, 2002 (2002-10-04)
Running time
124 minutes[2]
Country
LanguageEnglish
Budget$78 million[3]
Box office$209.2 million[3]

Plot

In 1980, FBI agent Will Graham visits forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter to discuss a case. Graham has been working with Lecter on a psychological profile of a serial killer who removes edible body parts from his victims; Graham says he has realized the killer is a cannibal. Realizing Graham is close to discovering he is the killer, Lecter stabs him, but Graham fights back, stabbing and shooting Lecter before they both fall unconscious. Lecter is imprisoned in an institution for the criminally insane, and Graham, traumatized, retires to Florida with his family.

Years later, another serial killer, nicknamed the Tooth Fairy, has killed two families during full moons. With another full moon approaching, special agent Jack Crawford persuades Graham to help develop the killer's profile. After visiting the crime scenes and speaking with Crawford, Graham concludes that he must consult Lecter. Lecter taunts Graham, but agrees to help.

The Tooth Fairy is Francis Dolarhyde, who kills at the behest of his alternate personality he calls the Great Red Dragon. He is obsessed with the William Blake painting The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun, and has the painting tattooed on his back. He believes that each victim brings him closer to becoming the Dragon. His psychopathology was born from the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his grandmother.

Freddy Lounds, a tabloid reporter for the National Tattler who hounded Graham after Lecter's capture, follows Graham again for leads on the Tooth Fairy. A letter from the Tooth Fairy is discovered hidden in Lecter's cell. The letter expresses admiration for Lecter and an interest in Graham, and suggests Lecter reply through the personals section of the Tattler. Lecter responds with Graham's home address, forcing his wife Molly and son Josh to relocate.

Hoping to lure out the Tooth Fairy, Graham gives Lounds an interview in which he disparages the killer as an impotent homosexual. This provokes Dolarhyde, who kidnaps Lounds and glues him to an antique wheelchair. Dolarhyde forces Lounds to recant his allegations on tape, then bites off his lips and then sets him on fire outside the Tattler offices.

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun, ca. 1803–1805 Brooklyn Museum

At his job in a St. Louis photo lab, Dolarhyde gives Reba McClane, a blind co-worker, a ride to her home and they have sex. However, his alternate personality demands that he kill her. Desperate to stop the Dragon's control over him, Dolarhyde goes to the Brooklyn Museum, tears apart the Blake painting, and eats it.

Graham deduces that the Tooth Fairy knew the layout of his victims' houses from their home videos. He concludes that he works for the company that edits the home movies and transfers them to video. He searches the company processing plant and asks for the workers' personnel files, overseen by Dolarhyde as he returns from Brooklyn.

Dolarhyde leaves the plant unseen and goes to Reba's house. She has spent the evening with a co-worker, Ralph Mandy. Enraged, Dolarhyde kills Ralph, kidnaps Reba, takes her to his house, and sets it on fire. Unable to shoot her, Dolarhyde apparently shoots himself. Reba escapes as the police arrive. Dolarhyde, having used Ralph's corpse to stage his death, infiltrates Graham's home in Florida. He holds Josh hostage, threatening to kill him. To save Josh, Graham shouts insults at him, reminding Dolarhyde of his grandmother's abuse. Enraged, Dolarhyde attacks Graham. Both are severely wounded in a shootout, which ends when Molly kills Dolarhyde.

Graham receives a letter from Lecter praising his work and bidding him well. Lecter's jailer, Dr. Frederick Chilton, tells him that he has a visitor, a young woman from the FBI.

Cast

Production

The 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, starring Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, was a critical and commercial success, winning five Academy Awards. Hopkins was the only major member of the Silence of the Lambs team to return for the 2001 sequel, Hannibal; it was also a commercial success, but received less positive reviews.[4] Both films were adapted from novels by Thomas Harris.[4]

Husband-and-wife producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis decided to produce a film based on the 1981 novel Red Dragon, the first Hannibal Lecter novel, as a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs.[5] Dino said that everyone felt he was "crazy" for adapting the book, as it had been previously adapted as Manhunter (1986), with Brian Cox as Lecter.[4] Both Manhunter and Red Dragon had the same cinematographer, Dante Spinotti.[5]

Hopkins hesitated to sign on, worried that three Lecter films might be too much. Screenwriter Ted Tally, who wrote The Silence of the Lambs but not Hannibal, had turned down many offers to write more serial killer stories. He said he liked the idea of Hopkins' Lecter films forming a trilogy: "If it ends here, it will end gracefully. I would hate to see this become Hannibal Lecter XIII."[4] To satisfy expectations, Tally added Lecter scenes not in the novel, describing it as a "commercial reality". He had the support of Harris, who sent Tally dialogue and ideas for scenes.[4] Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes admired The Silence of the Lambs but had not enjoyed Hannibal. The cast were persuaded to join by Tally's screenplay; Fiennes felt it worked "only on suspense", without overt violence.[4]

Norton and Ratner disagreed on the scene in which Graham approaches the incarcerated Lecter for the first time. Ratner wanted Norton to incorporate a gesture or look to indicate Graham's fear, but Norton felt the audience would not need this if it were filmed correctly. They compromised by showing Graham's sweat stains when he removes his jacket in the next scene.[4] Whereas Fiennes wanted to avoid overplaying his serial killer character, Hopkins aimed to play Lecter with more "danger and rage" than before.[4] Fiennes spent 90 minutes of each day for months building his physique, and wore a prosthetic to give him a cleft palette. The tattoo on his back took around eight hours to apply.[4]

Soundtrack

Red Dragon: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was composed by Danny Elfman, and produced by Mark Helfrich and Brett Ratner. Decca Records released it on September 24, 2002, in the United States and Canada.[6]

Reception

Box office

Red Dragon was released on October 4, 2002, and opened in 3,357 theaters in the United States, grossing $13,478,355 on its opening day and $36,540,945 on its opening weekend, ranking #1 with a per theater average of $10,885.[7][8] On its second weekend, it remained #1 and grossed $17,655,750 – $5,250 per theater.[9] By its third weekend it dropped down to #3 and made $8,763,545 – $2,649 per theater.[10]

Red Dragon grossed $93,149,898 in the United States and Canada and $116,046,400 overseas. In total, the film has grossed $209,196,298 worldwide.[11]

Critical response

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes assigned the film an approval rating of 68% based on 188 reviews, with an average rating of 6.39/10. The site's consensus said the film is "competently made, but everything is a bit too familiar".[12] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[14]

Richard Corliss of Time gave the film a positive review, stating: "This darkly seductive, flawlessly acted piece is worlds removed from most horror films. Here monsters have their grandeur, heroes their gravity. And when they collide, a dance of death ensues between two souls doomed to understand each other."[15] Todd McCarthy of Variety also gave the film a positive review, saying that the "audiences will be excused for any feelings of déjà vu the new film might inspire. That won't prevent them from watching it in rapt, anxious silence, however, as the gruesome crimes, twisted psychology and deterministic dread that lie at the heart of Harris' work are laid out with care and skill."[16]

Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 1/2 stars out of four, praising Brett Ratner's directing and the film's atmosphere. He stated: "To my surprise, Ratner does a sure, stylish job, appreciating the droll humor of Lecter's predicament, creating a depraved new villain in the Tooth Fairy (Ralph Fiennes), and using the quiet, intense skills of Norton to create a character whose old fears feed into his new ones. There is also humor, of the uneasy he-can't-get-away-with-this variety, in the character of a nosy scandal-sheet reporter (Philip Seymour Hoffman)."[17] David Sterritt of the Christian Science Monitor gave the film a positive review, stated that "the most refreshing aspect of Red Dragon is its reliance on old-fashioned acting instead of computer-aided gizmos. Hopkins overdoes his role at times—his vocal tones are almost campy—but his piercing eyes are as menacing as ever, and Ralph Fiennes is scarily good as his fellow lunatic."[18]

David Grove of Film Threat, who gave the film four stars out of five, said: "Is Red Dragon a better film than Manhunter? I don't know. I think it stands on its own, but I wonder how much people who are intimately familiar with Manhunter will be shocked by it, although the ending is altogether different and much more realized, I think".[19] Rick Kisonak, who also wrote for Film Threat, also gave the film a positive review, but he gave it three stars out of five, saying: "The only downside to this delectable third course? The regrettable likelihood that Lecter fans will have to make do without dessert."[20]

Edward Guthmann of San Francisco Chronicle, gave the film a mixed review, saying that "in Hollywood, where integrity is rapidly consumed and careers defined by market value, there's trash and there's trash with a pedigree."[21] Stephanie Zacharek, for Salon, also gave the film a mixed review, stating: "If you buy the overprocessed headcheese of the serial killer as refined genius, you'll love Red Dragon. Or maybe not. Even Hannibal Lecter devotees may lose patience with this picture's grandiose, self-serious ponderousness—that's Lecterese for, 'It's kind of boring in patches, actually.'"[22] William Arnold of Seattle Post-Intelligencer, who gave the film a mixed review, said that the film "basically lives up to the old adage that the final work in a trilogy is invariably the weakest."[23] Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice gave the film a negative review; he stated: "Red Dragon's formula is so risible and rote by now that the natural reaction to scenes of peril, torture, and suffering is flippant laughter."[24]

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on April 1, 2003.[25][26] It was released in two extras-packed DVD editions, a single-disc package and double-disc "Director's Edition". The single-disc package includes deleted scenes, director's commentary by Brett Ratner, Interview with FBI profiler John Douglas, Four featurettes: "The Hannibal Lecter Story," "The Making of Red Dragon," "The Art of Criminal Profiling" and "The Making of a Killer". The Director's Edition includes director Brett Ratner's video diary, featurette "The Red Dragon Tattoo", Screen and film tests and storyboard-to-final-feature comparisons.[25]

Awards

Red Dragon was nominated for 13 awards, and won several, including Empire Award for Best British Actress (Emily Watson) and Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actor Age Ten or Younger (Tyler Patrick Jones).

DateAwardCategoryRecipientResult
May 18, 2003 Saturn Awards Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Ralph Fiennes Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Emily Watson Nominated
February 5, 2003 Empire Awards Best British Actress Emily Watson Nominated
February 13, 2003 London Film Critics Circle Awards British Supporting Actress of the Year Emily Watson Won
August 2, 2003 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie – Horror/Thriller Nominated
March 29, 2003 Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actor Age Ten or Younger Tyler Patrick Jones Won

See also

References
  1. "Red Dragon (2002)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  2. "Red Dragon (15)". British Board of Film Classification. September 26, 2002. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  3. "Red Dragon (2002)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  4. "Marquee names serve up another helping of Hannibal". USA Today. October 3, 2002. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  5. French, Philip (October 12, 2002). "Film of the week: Red Dragon". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  6. "Red Dragon [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]". AllMusic. All Media Guide. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  7. "Daily Box Office for Friday, October 4, 2002". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  8. "Weekend Box Office Results for October 4-6, 2002". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  9. "Weekend Box Office Results for October 11-13, 2002". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  10. "Weekend Box Office Results for October 18-20, 2002". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  11. "Red Dragon (2002)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  12. "Red Dragon". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  13. "Red Dragon". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  14. "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Red Dragon" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  15. Corliss, Richard (September 30, 2002). "Here Be Monsters". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  16. McCarthy, Todd (September 26, 2002). "Film Reviews: Red Dragon". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  17. Ebert, Roger (October 4, 2002). "Red Dragon". Chicago Sun-Times. RogerEbert.com. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  18. Sterritt, David (October 4, 2002). "The doctor is in: Hannibal returns in 'Lambs' prequel". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  19. Grove, David (October 4, 2002). "Red Dragon". Film Threat. Hamster Stampede LLC. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  20. Kisonak, Rick (October 8, 2002). "Red Dragon". Film Threat. Hamster Stampede LLC. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  21. Guthmann, Edward (October 4, 2002). "'Dragon' has no bite / All-star cast fails to make 'Silence of the Lambs' prequel appetizing". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications Inc. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  22. Zacharek, Stephanie (October 4, 2002). "Red Dragon". Salon. Salon Media Group, Inc. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  23. Arnold, William (October 3, 2002). "Lecter series has run its course, but Hopkins is still delicious". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Hearst Communications Inc. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  24. Atkinson, Michael (October 1, 2002). "Monsters, Inc". The Village Voice. Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  25. Rivero, Enrique (January 22, 2003). "Red Dragon to Bow on Video April 1". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2003. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  26. Rivero, Enrique (March 31, 2003). "Red Dragon Helmer Plays Big Part on DVD". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2003. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
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