Pat289’s review published on Letterboxd:
The semi-first installment in the Hannibal Lecter movie canon. How does it hold up?
WHAT I ENJOYED:
- The lack of backstory for the antagonist gives a nice feeling of creepy ambiguity.
- The acting is great all the way through.
WHAT MAKES IT A STAND-OUT:
- The visual storytelling. Every minute of Manhunter just screams "80's crime thriller" in the best way possible.
- Lots of scenes are accompanied by music that underlines the emotions and actions going on and luckily, the score is rarely overused.
- Some scenes feature no dialogue at all while still managing to give you everything you need to know just through the characters' facial expressions and the accompanying music.
Manhunter is a great, criminally underrated movie. While it isn't perfect, looking for something negative would be nitpicking on the highest level. I adore this film and to me it is a great interpretation of the characters that we have come to know in all the other films.
