The inexplicable success of the Hannibal sequels is a Hollywood peculiarity--as is the demonic character of Hannibal Lecter himself. Gaspard Ulliel plays the young Hannibal this time around in Hannibal Rising, as does young actor Aaron Thomas as the eight-year old old soon-to-be-monster. The story follows Hannibal's traumatic experiences as a child and his young adulthood in which he made significant contributions to art, music, forensic work and medicine. Hannibal soon meets Lady Murasaki Shikibu, the widow of his uncle, and someone who understands the trauma of war and loss as much as Hannibal does. These helpless feelings are shared by Inspector Popil, who empathizes with Hannibal almost as much as he fears him, but not quite as much as he seeks to put him away for good. As we know by now, Lecter never mastered the poker face when it comes to interrogations.

Hannibal's quest is to track down the predatory group of war criminals that may have done harm to he and his sister when they were young. His quest to hunt down each of the survivors is obsessive and predictably violent. Ironically, Hannibal is portrayed as the hero in this movie, on a quest of personal vengeance worthy of Charles Bronson. Hannibal is the hero, or at least the bloody-grinned protagonist, possibly because he is the least evil male character in a confused and dangerous world.

While Gaspard Ulliel never quite convinces you that he is a young Anthony Hopkins, he nevertheless brings a charismatic evil to his young character. As much as I admired Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith as is, this is who Hayden Christenson should have been--true face of horror emerging from lost innocence. We see Hannibal realistically evolve from a desperate youth to a desperate young man, fixated on revenge and less of a human being than a cold-blooded machine, programmed for revenge. Many of Hannibal's victims are actually deserving of death, and would have been killed off by Wolverine, the 1989 Batman, and any number of other kill-now-flinch-later comic book antiheroes. What separates Hannibal is his malicious cleverness, and of course the whole "I'm Gonna Eatcha!" thing.

There isn't much emotional content to Hannibal, besides all the screaming deaths. The only genuine feelings in the film come from Lady Murasaki Shikibu, who seems helpless to stop Hannibal's destruction because of her maternal feelings for the boy-monster as well as a deep-seated sense of justice, that she knows would come from no other source but another killer. Hannibal Rising is at best a perverted revenge fantasy, a story about hate conquering all sense of humanity. It's not an enjoyable film in the truest sense of the word, but it is a daring storyline and a horror series that's unique from the Hollywood formula. The only thing missing in this film was Anthony Hopkins' sneering face, which would have brought an elegance to the film and lent more edible credibility to Gaspard Ulliel. I can give this film a marginal recommendation provided it's the last in the series; I don't believe I want to see Hannibal in the nursing home any time soon. You've made your point, Lecter, and the taste is dulled by now. Grade: B-