Rating: R
Genre:
Thriller
Release Date: 04/01/2003
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD5.1/DD2
Run Time: 125 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
Following the phenomenal success of
The Silence of the Lambs and
Hannibal,
Anthony Hopkins returns as brilliant madman
Hannibal Lecter in this
thriller based on the novel in which author
Thomas Harris introduced the character.
Will Graham (
Edward Norton) is an FBI agent with a rare gift for tracking serial killers who brought
Hannibal Lecter to justice; however, his confrontation with
Lecter proved to be a bloody, near-death experience, and afterward
Graham retired from the Bureau, moving to Florida to spend his time with his wife,
Molly (
Mary-Louise Parker), and their son. However, a particularly grisly killer is on the loose, and
Jack Crawford (
Harvey Keitel),
Graham's one-time mentor at the Bureau, asks him to return to duty to find him. The "
Tooth Fairy" is a vicious murderer who kills entire families at once, covering the eyes of his victims with bits of a shattered mirror.
Graham finds he needs help putting together the pieces of the "Tooth Fairy" case, and he calls upon
Lecter looking for advice.
Lecter, at once vaguely helpful and self-serving, as usual, offers scraps of information to
Graham which help him zero in on the killer. But
Lecter knows more than he's telling; the "
Tooth Fairy" is actually
Francis Dolarhyde (
Ralph Fiennes), a troubled and withdrawn man who admires
Lecter's violent panache and corresponds with him.
Dolarhyde works at a film processing lab, where one of his co-workers, a blind woman named
Reba McClane (
Emily Watson), seems to be quite attracted to him. As
Dolarhyde wrestles with both his murderous impulses and his feelings for
McClane,
Lecter plays
Graham and
Dolarhyde against one another so that, as the FBI agent comes closer to catching "
the Tooth Fairy,"
Dolarhyde moves in on his next victim --
Graham's family.
Red Dragon marked the second time
Harris' novel of the same name had been brought to the screen; five years prior to
The Silence of the Lambs,
Michael Mann adapted the book for the screen as
Manhunter, which starred
William Petersen as
Graham and
Brian Cox as
Lecter.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide