Hannibal

LOO7K OUT

Just seen the first episode of this and it has the potential to be a really dark and intelligent series.

Mads Mikkelsen is an outstanding Hannibal Lecter - worth a look if you haven't seen it

Hardyboy

It's been on for several weeks in the US, and I've been enjoying it--despite the fact it has some of the most nauseating violence ever seen on network TV. One episode was also pulled at the producers' request after the Boston bombing, and there are no plans to air it at another time--be interesting to see if the Brits get it.

LOO7K OUT

It was violent and graphic in the pilot, but I really liked it - what do you think of Mads?

David Schofield

Really like the pilot, thought it was a clever - original even - use of established character details, even if we know where the plot must lead. Very well played, too.

Whether there is enough scope for an entire series, however...

Will it be a smash, either side of the Pond? I doubt it, simply because of the constraints the outcome demands AND the fact that we've seen the Lector gig writ VERY large before.

Does it bother me whether its huge or just cracking, well crafted entertainment? No. QOS was huge, LTK is by far the better film.

Hardyboy

LOO7K OUT wrote:

what do you think of Mads?

He's very different from Anthony Hopkins. Where AH exuded menace to the point of self-parody (and, by the way, I think his approach was downright brilliant), Mikkelson is cold, methodical, and threatening. I could see a person being initially taken aback by his aloof ways and then saying, "Oh, wait, he's just European"--and entering his lair.

BTW, another "prequel" series I'm enjoying is A&E's Bates Motel. It's less Hitchcock than Twin Peaks--the entire town in which the title motel is set is filled with weirdos and its economy is built on illegal drugs--but it's fun and fascinating. Vera Farmiga's Norma Bates is perhaps tri-polar: smothering mother, vicious shrew, and blubbering wimp all rolled into one. Freddie Highmore plays Norman as a 17-year-old, and you get the feeling he could be a fairly normal kid (despite the psychotic blackouts) if he could only get away from his mom. The look of the show is also interesting: it's set in the world of today--there are computers and cell phones (mobiles for you Brits); but Norma drives a car from the '50s, Norman's (hot) English teacher looks like she wandered off the set of Mad Men, and the girl who's sweet on Norman drives a 1970s VW bug. If Britain doesn't have this, it should!