Will Graham (William Peterson) is a retired FBI profiler, he's trying to rebuild his life after a traumatic case catching the intelligent, but manipulative Hannibal Lector.(Brian Cox) Graham knows he is damaged goods, but is drawn back into profiling a new serial murder case, out of interest and loyalty, to Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina) his FBI superior. The perpetrator nicknamed 'The Tooth Fairy' is a tricky serial murderer, currently without a motive. The killer declares himself an avid fan of Lector. So Graham goes to consult with his former adversary to ask for clues to his new adversary's psychology. He knows this is a risky strategy, because you never know whether his offers of help also serve Lector's own purposes. Drawing Graham back into an interactive mindset that nearly broke his own sanity.
Manhunter is an early film directed and written by Micheal Mann and predates his biggest success Heat (1995), and other later adaptions of Thomas Harris's 1981 novel Red Dragon. Harris's novels, are known to be very detailed portrayals of the psychological underpinnings and thought processes involved in being a profiler or detective. They are thoughtful, densely and carefully written books, which a film cannot really capture effectively. Mann's film deliberately utilises a heavily stylised use of colour v monochrome, making great use of doomy synth to create odd and taut atmospheres. Mann never prettys the dialogue up, its self consciously acted flat with a low emotional tone, where internal thought processes are externally expressed, which can be a strategy that risks accusations of heightened theatricality. It does, however, exaggerate the sense of melodrama and the isolated unreality of the world that both the profiler and the killer exist within. This is great at creating the cat and mouse game between Graham and his serial killer prey.
Though it has an 80's aesthetic and style written all over it, this is quite a successful adaption of Thomas Harris. One gets the feeling that Mann made his films on a low budget, and at this stage could not call on top flight actors. Though Peterson does OK as Graham, one has the sense his limitations as an actor meant he couldn't psychologically draw enough out of the character to make it a compelling portrayal of a tormented man. He is often a bit too much of a blank canvas. This was Brian Cox's first Hollywood film, so was probably a relatively cheap buy, but a strong actor who could convey the devious playful character of Lector. Anthony Hopkins was perhaps closer to the Lector of the novels, in making his geniality slippery so that it gave you the creeps.
At the time Manhunter was released, it did badly at the box office and with critics, they didn't like its tone at all. But over the years it has been reappraised and is something of a cult film now. I think its age and period have provided its stylistic eccentricities with an extra gloss that it now benefits from greatly. Not quite a classic in my book, but an early indication of what Micheal Mann could and would soon deliver.
CARROT REVIEW - 6/8
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