Manhunter
Manhunter (1986)
Writers: Thomas Harris (novel), Michael Mann (screenplay)
Cast: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Stephen Lang, Tom Noonan, David Seaman, Benjamin Hendrickson, Michael Talbott, Dan Butler
Synopsis:
Will Graham (Petersen) is a retired FBI profiler living in Florida with his wife Molly (Greist) and son Kevin (Seaman). He was once one of the Bureau's top profilers but he was forced to retire after being wounded and traumatized following his capture of the notorious Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (Cox). Graham is visited by his former boss and friend Jack Crawford (Farina) who asks him to get back into the game by helping him catch a serial killer known as the Tooth Fairy (Noonan), who kills on the full moon. Will reluctantly agrees but the Tooth Fairy proves to be elusive and Graham comes up empty at every turn. desperate with time running short until the next full moon, Will decides to ask Lecktor for advice in capturing the killer. Can Will cope with the trauma of dealing with Lecktor again and can he navigate the good doctor's mind games in time before the Tooth Fairy strikes again?
First Impressions:
I went through a large chunk of my life not being aware that this film existed. It wasn't until the release of its remake Red Dragon in 2002 that I had heard about Manhunter. Thanks to the marketing efforts of the remake, this film had received a DVD release, which I noticed on one of my frequent trips to Blockbuster. On a whim, I grabbed it and when I noticed that it was directed by Michael Mann, who is one of my favorite directors, I bought with high expectations. Upon first viewing, I wasn't exactly blown away. I didn't dislike that film but compared to the remake, which had that high budget studio sheen, it just seemed a bit lackluster. Anyway, I've only seen it a couple of times in total and it's been at least 10 years, if not more, since I last watched it. So, let's jump right in and see what I think of it now.
Story/Direction:
"It's just you and me now, sport."
There's often a formula with serial killer films and in some ways Manhunter holds pretty close to that formula and in others it veers. With the exception of the opening scene, the entire first half of the film focuses solely on Graham and his efforts to track down the Tooth Fairy. The audience doesn't even get a glimpse of the killer until at least an hour in, which helped ratchet up the tension. While the remake seems "bigger" in everything it does, this film was shot on a decidedly lower budget, even for the time, so everything seems close and personal and the audience has the opportunity to connect with Graham as he tries to get into the mind of the killer. The whole film has a feel to it that's more akin to the gritty police dramas of the 1970s than it does with its 80s contemporaries and certainly the well-polished remake in the 2000s.
While I enjoyed the story overall, there was something that didn't sit quite right with me about it. Even though the film clocks in at the standard 2 hour runtime, it still seemed somewhat rushed. It seems as though the remake managed to cram more stuff into it and only tacked on about 4 minutes to the runtime. This may be due to the differences in each film's director and likely the budgets. Mann was a fairly inexperienced director at the time and still learning the craft, so he hung on to shots maybe a bit too long and maybe didn't have enough money to expand on certain things like the relationship between Graham and Lecktor. The remake also took the time, once he's introduced, to delve more into the Tooth Fairy and why he's doing what he's doing. That's' really the main area of difference in the two films. The original focuses almost entirely on Graham while the remake splits the characterization more between the protagonist and antagonist. Still, this wasn't enough to mar my enjoyment of the film's story, it just would have been nice to get a little bit more background that's all.
Acting/Characters:
Another area of difference between this film and its remake is in the cast. While the remake loaded up the call sheets with well-established names, the original relied on lesser known actors (well, they were lesser known at the time). William Petersen was given the role of Graham, long before he made a name for himself on TV. At this point in his career, Petersen had only had one other major role and he was still a relative unknown. I really enjoyed Petersen's portrayal of Graham. He plays the character as withdrawn and you can see a great deal of pain in his eyes. It's interesting to see scenes of him having a one-sided conversation with himself talking to the absent killer as he tries to get into his mindset. You can tell that Graham has a gift that he doesn't enjoy using but knows he must in order to save lives. It's a pretty compelling performance.
Of course, I can't review a movie that includes the first on-screen appearance of one of cinema's greatest villains without talking about Brian Cox's turn at the evil Dr. Lecktor. The original film put a much smaller emphasis on Dr. Lecktor than did the remake, which in my mind makes him more terrifying. Cox chooses to go subtle with his performance as the notorious killer. He's very cold and aloof, but at the same time has an unsettling amount of charm. I'm going to avoid any direct comparisons between Cox's turn at the character and that of the great Sir Anthony Hopkins in later iterations. Suffice to say I enjoy both interpretations, but I may have like Cox's just a tad better.
I also can't go through this review without talking about Tom Noonan's turn as the Tooth Fairy killer. Noonan is just one of those actors that can do creepy without even trying. In this film he appears as a meek pushover but you can see an intensity behind his eyes that is unsettling. There's also something about his voice that ramps up the ick factor in many of his performances. for such a tall man, he has such a tiny voice, for lack of a better term. It really was just genius casting in my mind.
Visuals/Action:
Considering this was a very low budget film about a serial killer, there's not a lot of visual effects or action to be found, so I won't dwell too long on this section. However, I did want to note how cool the film looks from visual standpoint. Mann uses a lot of blue-light to accentuate the scenes shot at night (and there are a lot of those). It gives the whole film a feel of the neon-drenched 80s without all of the bright pastels common for the decade. It almost gives the film a noir-ish feel to it, that I quite liked. To contrast this, much of the interior shots are in stark white rooms, with little to no adornments on the walls. I'm such much of this was done due to budgetary reasons, but I found it super interesting in a drab, unremarkable kind of way.
Score/Soundtrack:
The film's music was composed by Michel Rubini and the band The Reds. Normally, when a film uses a contemporary artist to do the music, it often dates the film, particularly with films from the 80s. This is somewhat the case here, as Manhunter makes liberal use of that unmistakable 80s synth-sound. However, it works here and doesn't date the movie as much as I thought it would. One of the things that I've noticed about that synthesized sound is that it evokes an ethereal, otherworldly feeling that conventional instrumentation really can't do all that well. That's what it does for this film. So, while I don't really recall much of the specific musical cues in the movie, I still think I'm going to give the soundtrack a pass because of the overall feel that it places. Also, not for nothing, but the movie's climax makes good use of the classic In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida which earns it a few more points.
Final Verdict:
After this most recent viewing, I have to say that I have a new appreciation for this film. It's not a slick big-budget thriller by any stretch but it's enjoyable and compelling. check it out if you're looking for a not-too-scary Halloween flick or if you're a fan of Lecktor's other cinematic outings and would like to see where it all began.
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