Manhunter

Blind bought (no pun intended) the recently-released Blu-ray from Scream Factory and man, was I in for something. I had no prior knowledge that Hannibal Lecktor would make an appearance in this, but then it all unfolds into what would inspire the Hannibal TV series that I really admire.

This movie pioneered some of the tropes that were later popularized by (what I consider to be) some of the most overrated movies from the 90s. The dialogue and writing (particularly the crazy serial killer who’s also a mastermind trope) are all presented in a way that’s too cheesy to work with the typical self serious, grounded tone of a Michael Mann film. The plot and characters are also nothing special, it’s a typical serial killer crime film with a predictable sequence of events and no deeper layers. Movies like _Seven_ and _Cure_ at least had their amazing directing to fall back on, this doesn’t. There are some interesting touches here and there (blue light, videotape recordings), but Mann’s sense of pacing isn’t tight. I liked his use of synths in _Thief_, here it doesn’t always set the right tone if you ask me. I don’t want to sound too negative, because there are good sequences in here, but emotionally it almost never hits the mark for me. 4/10