Volume 2, No. 39 October 11, 2002
‘Dragon’ offers fiery thrills A Review By Kim Herrington When I was a child growing up in Savannah, it was a family ritual to stay up late with my dad and watch "Saturday Night Nightmare Movies" hosted by Jack North. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, "Saturday Night Nightmare Movies" featured classic horror flicks from 11 p.m. Saturday evenings until the wee hours of Sunday mornings. The movies were sensational and fed my appetite for suspense. I appreciate the great storytelling of that time. The monsters almost always personified some part of society’s anxiety. For instance, Frankenstein embodied the anxiety our culture had for scientists with obscure ethics. As I watched "Red Dragon" this weekend, Hannibal Lector and the Red Dragon reminded me of the horror classics I watched. As usual, Hannibal (Anthony Hopkins) flirts with our notion of psychopaths. The movie starts with a scene that shows Hannibal sitting in a symphony audience. Director Brett Ratner gives us this glimpse of Lector before he was captured and quickly forwards us to another serial killing spree that’s baffling FBI agents. Will Graham (Edward Norton), the FBI agent who caught Hannibal, is asked to pair with Lector to profile the serial killer that calls himself Red Dragon. The movie focuses on Red Dragon and his cat and mouse game with the FBI. A couple of scenes give the audience a chance to profile Red Dragon as he becomes acquainted with Reba McClane (Emily Watson). Yes, this man actually has a love interest who is blind physically and symbolically. This woman has no idea that she is getting cozy with a madman. However, it is her blind faith that helps reveal a more compassionate Red Dragon. To know Red Dragon and Will Graham is to know certain parts of Hannibal Lector. Will Graham is the Hannibal before he became a psychopath, and Red Dragon is Hannibal after he makes his first kill. It’s interesting to see their interaction with other characters because it reveals our culture’s desire to know what kind of people are considered harmful. Every shot is masterfully done and edited well for great storytelling. If you’re in the mood for a spine tingling thriller, don’t miss Red Dragon.
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