Logic-free ‘Hannibal’ prequel fails the original

In theaters

HANNIBAL RISING, directed by Peter Webber, written by Thomas Harris from his novel, 121 minutes, rated R.

The new Hannibal Lecter movie, “Hannibal Rising,” is an origins movie that follows the serial killer’s early years. As you might expect, those years didn’t involve much time in a sandbox, unless of course Hannibal’s spade was used as an instrument of death.

Working from novelist Thomas Harris’ script (his first in the franchise), director Peter Webber designs a movie concerned with explaining the reasons behind Hannibal’s madness, thus stripping the character of mystery while courting its share of sympathy.

Everybody involved with the movie seems turned on about what turned Lecter into the deadly little charmer he became. What created such a beast? The absence of fava beans in his pabulum? Hardly. In this case, it was that old Hollywood standby, the Nazis.

The film opens in Lithuania toward the end of World War II. It’s 1944 and at Lecter Castle – yes, Lecter Castle – the privileged Lecter clan, including Hannibal (Aaron Thomas) and his very young sister Mischa (Helena Lia Tachovska), are busy evacuating to a safe house in the country. Their arrival proves a mistake – into their midst steamroll the Soviets by land, the Germans by air. A battle ensues, bombs explode, and Hannibal and Mischa’s parents are among the dead.

Left to fend for themselves, the siblings make the best of it until into their lives comes a scrappy group of starving war miscreants who shackle them, abuse them and then, consumed by hunger, see in plump Mischa something of a feast. They decide to eat the poor thing, which turns Lecter’s mind to the dark side and sets the movie up for its bloody plot of revenge.

Fast-foward eight years. Now played by Gaspart Ulliel, Lecter flees a Soviet orphanage for France, where his wealthy aunt Murasaki resides. As played by the Chinese actress Gong Li (“Memoirs of a Geisha”), Murasaki is a hot-looking widow whose beauty and kindness attract Hannibal in ways that are so endearing, he beheads a butcher who bullies her at the market.

A conflicted Murasaki finds the act almost touching. On the flip side, she’s also concerned, particularly since Hannibal’s deadly dalliances are attracting the attention of Inspector Popil (Dominic West), who has to be one of the dumbest detectives in Paris.

As often as Hannibal kills, sometimes right under Popil’s nose, the inspector can’t find the evidence to put him away. Conveniently, this allows the movie its streak of violence – Hannibal stalks those who ate his sister, brings them down and feasts on their cheeks.

Its lack of logic aside, the movie does look good; it isn’t dull, and moments are cheap fun. That said, there’s something depressing in the fact that this offspring of a modern-day classic, “Silence of the Lambs,” has become as cheap as Clarice’s shoes. If there is a next time, and there likely will be, perhaps in another prequel, “Hannibal: L’Enfant Terrible,” here’s hoping that Harris has the good sense to show some restraint and not allow Hannibal to nurse.

Grade: C

On DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray

THE DEPARTED, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by William Monahan, 150 minutes, rated R.

Nominated for five Academy Awards, Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” is an outstanding return to form that spiders through the darkest corners of South Boston, where it digs into that city’s underworld in ways that make Boston’s Big Dig look shallow in comparison.

In its most streamlined form, the film’s monster of a plot conspires to protect and to bring down one man – crime boss Frank Costello (a perfectly sleazy Jack Nicholson) – who lives the sort of double life favored by a few other men in the movie.

On one level, Frank could be viewed as just a successful businessman, somebody who has done well with restaurants, pubs, porn.

On another level, the one in which he thrives, he sells contraband to the East and is the mastermind behind a major drug cartel. For added flavor, he sports the sort of wily fright wig that recalls Nick Nolte’s infamous 2002 mug shot when he was busted for drunken driving, and Frank is more than content to enter a room with his hands and forearms drenched in blood, obviously from some off-screen murder gone well.

Since Frank could never remain a free man on his own, his army is formidable, with the key element being Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), the man Frank shrewdly groomed when he was just a boy. It’s Colin, a rising star at the police department, who works the inside angles for Frank, alerting him to each investigation that threatens to bring him down. He’s Costello’s mole.

For Frank, what’s becoming increasingly clear is that the department has its own mole, and he doesn’t know who it is. In part, the movie’s narrative drive comes from Frank and Colin trying to find out, but we know. It’s Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), who was hired by an elite undercover unit led by Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg to get enough dirt on Costello to lock him away forever.

What stems from this is a movie that steams with excellence. Scorsese hasn’t just returned to his roots in “The Departed.” Instead, he has brashly pulled them out of his beloved New York and punched them down deeper in Boston, a new city and a new muse with its own mysteries and rhythms whose unfamiliarity has allowed the director the freedom to do some of his best work.

Grade: A

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays and Fridays in the Lifestyle section and weekends in Television as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.