The Silence of the Lambs Reviews

Unlike a lot of viewers, I first saw The Silence of the Lambs at five years old. So, for me, The Silence of the Lambs is a childhood favorite. Some would say I had an unusual childhood, in this age where some people actually avoid R-rated movies like the plague. The fact that I saw Something Wild, which Jonathan Demme directed five years before The Silence of the Lambs, as well as the original Alien (alone at that), at the same age probably indicates that they were okay with me watching pretty much anything that wasn't rated X, though, honestly, I've never had any interest in that stuff. It was probably due to the fact that, like the movie's protagonist, I don't "spook easily," and many so-called "scary" movies, including this one, never scared me, but (many of them) definitely thrilled me. Granted, I'd seen Saving Private Ryan a few months before, which probably gave me a strong stomach. Well, enough about my wild, albeit fun, childhood. How does The Silence of the Lambs hold up all these years later? For me personally, The Silence of the Lambs is every bit as good as it was the first time I saw it at five years old.

On the off chance you don't already know the plot by now, Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a rookie FBI agent with a degree in psychology who is called from training by her boss Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) in the middle of a string of murders by a man nicknamed "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine) who skins his victims, all of whom happen to be women. Crawford tells her to interview the psychotic Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in prison, hoping he might have an answer of some kind. Lecter brushes her off. After Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), the daughter of a senator is kidnapped, Lecter agrees to give Starling information about Buffalo Bill on the condition that she tell him personal information about herself.

If I had to pick the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner ever, it would most likely be The Silence of the Lambs. Well-acted, well-written, and well-directed, it's definitely my favorite.

Let's look at the acting to start. Jodie Foster, unsurprisingly, won a well-deserved Oscar for her performance as Starling. Foster plays Starling as a little scared yet strong at the same time, definitely not a coward as Julianne Moore later played the character in the movie Hannibal, and definitely not someone who would turn cannibal as Thomas Harris wrote the character as doing in the novel Hannibal. Movie or novel, in my honest opinion, the Clarice Starling depicted in Hannibal is an insult to what this Clarice Starling stands for. As we find out about what's been nagging Starling since childhood, Foster plays it especially well where another actress may have overdone it.
Anthony Hopkins, like Foster, won an Oscar for his performance as Lecter, and I speak for a lot of people, if not everybody, when I say it was also well-deserved. Hopkins plays Lecter as brilliant yet insane, making him one of the more interesting villains in movie history.
Scott Glenn plays Crawford very well for the time he's onscreen.
Ted Levine plays "Buffalo Bill" as straight up crazy, and does a very good job of making us hate him.
Brooke Smith is only supposed to play Catherine Martin as scared and she does - with dead-on accuracy.

Ted Tally won a well-deserved Oscar for his screenplay, adapted from Thomas Harris' novel of the same name. Tally doesn't feel the need to focus on violence and gore, which is one of the movie's strengths. Instead he focuses on the characters, and I'd be lying if I said he didn't flesh them out very, very, very, well.

Jonathan Demme also won an Oscar for his directing and he does a very good job of it.
The Silence of the Lambs is relentlessly thrilling and it holds me to my seat until the last frame every time I see it, all without relying on excessive gore.
I've already mentioned that The Silence of the Lambs doesn't scare me, so it may - or may not - scare you, depending on what you're afraid of. Admittedly, there are a few creepy things displayed onscreen so I can see why it would scare some viewers.
Either way, I can't recommend The Silence of the Lambs enough, and everybody should see it at least once.

The Silence of the Lambs is a childhood favorite of mine, and it holds up very, very well almost 25 years after its release. It's relentlessly thrilling, flawlessly acted, flawlessly written, flawlessly directed, and one of the few movies that actually deserved all the Oscars it won.

Young FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice attempts to gain a better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to another psychopath Hannibal Lecter, who used to be a respected psychiatrist. FBI agent Jack Crawford believes that Lecter, who is also a very powerful and clever mind manipulator, has the answers to their questions and can help locate the killer. However, Clarice must first gain Lecter's confidence before the inmate will give away any information.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, after all these years, I still ended up with the same feeling. I’m afraid. I mean, I will admit tot have to it, it is a very good movie. Indeed, it is very well made, spectacular, really entertaining and with some career best performances from Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins but, unfortunately, the story is just too far-fetched for my taste. In fact, my wife is actually a huge fan of such thrillers involving serial-killers and I'm pretty sure this movie is her favorite one in this genre. However, in my opinion, this movie precisely displays what bothers me with this genre. Indeed, while my wife might argue that those things actually really happens in real life, I tend to roll my eyes in complete disbelief. I mean, let’s start with the fact that the FBI would never send a student still in training to interrogate one of the most notorious serial-killers. However, the worst gimmick in this genre, aside the obligatory twist ending, is the whole concept of the omnipotent serial killer who hears and sees pretty much everything, can apparently predict the future and has access to a limitless amount of cash. In fact, after rewatching it, there were still some parts that still didn’t make much sense to me. I mean, don't misunderstand me, I do like this movie but even though it might be the best movie in this genre, it still uses some of his worst tricks and therefore it makes it difficult for me to be completely blown away by the whole thing. Anyway, to conclude, even though I’m not a huge fan, it is still a classic though and it is pretty much a must-see, especially if you like the genre.

One of the greatest films ever made

Silence of the Lambs tells the story of Clarice Starling played by Jodie Foster who is hired to investigate the case of Buffalo Bill a serial killer but to do it she needs the help of Hannibal Lecter played by Anthony Hopkins who is a psychopath himself. Jodie and Anthony put on two of the greatest performances ever put on screen. There aren't enough words to describe the genius of this film. So i will say this if you haven't seen this i feel bad for you.

Moody soundtrack, amazing serial killing film filled with flawless performances. Anthony Hopkins is terrifying in many artistic ways.

A classic film,with outstanding performances by foster & glenn,but its hopkins sinister & mind blowing performance of hannibal lector that captivates the film to another level..a must see film..

All sorts of macabre things have gone on, and are still going on just off screen, in Jonathan Demme's swift, witty new suspense thriller, "The Silence of the Lambs."

Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer nicknamed Hannibal the Cannibal, once liked to feast on his victims, daintily, in a meal designed to complement the particular nature of the main dish. He would, for example, choose a "nice" Chianti to accompany a savory liver. A fine Bordeaux would compete.

Hannibal is a brilliant if bent psychiatrist, now under lock and key in a maximum-security facility.

Still at large, though, is a new serial killer, known as Buffalo Bill for reasons that can't be reported here. Bill's habit is to skin his victims.

At the beginning of "The Silence of the Lambs," Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn), the F.B.I.'s man in charge of Bill's case, seeks the assistance of a bright young agent, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster).

Her assignment: to interview Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), arouse his interest and secure his help in drawing a psychological profile of the new killer.

The principal concern of "The Silence of the Lambs" is the entrapment of Buffalo Bill before he can kill again. Yet the heart of the movie is the eerie and complex relationship that develops between Clarice and Hannibal during a series of prison interviews, conducted through inch-thick bulletproof glass.

Hannibal, as grandly played by Mr. Hopkins, is a most seductive psychopath, a fellow who listens to the "Goldberg Variations" and can sketch the Duomo from memory. It's not his elegant tastes that attract Clarice, and certainly not his arrogant manner or his death's-head good looks. His smile is frosty, and his eyes never change expression. It's his mind that draws her to him. It pierces and surprises. Hannibal is one movie killer who is demonstrably as brilliant and wicked as he is reported to be.

In their first interview, Hannibal sizes up Clarice from her expensive bag and cheap shoes, her West Virginia accent and her furrow-browed, youthful determination not to appear intimidated. Hannibal isn't unkind to her.

He is at first skeptical and then amused. Finally he is seduced by her, at least to the extent that his egomania allows. She is flesh and blood and something more.

As played by Miss Foster, Clarice is as special in her way as Hannibal is in his. She is exceptionally pretty, but her appeal has more to do with her character, which is still in the process of being formed. She's unsure of herself, yet clear-headed enough to recognize her limitations.

Clarice has the charm of absolute honesty, something not often seen in movies or, for that matter, in life. She's direct, kind, always a bit on edge and eager to make her way.

When Hannibal finally agrees to help Clarice, it's with the understanding that for every bit of information he gives her, she will tell him something about herself. Because Hannibal, by nature and by profession, is an expert in prying, the questions he asks, and the answers he receives, both frighten and soothe the young woman.

For Hannibal, they are a turn-on.

Through the bulletproof glass, in dizzy succession, Hannibal and Clarice become analyst and analysand, teacher and pupil, father and daughter, lover and beloved, while always remaining cat and mouse.

Miss Foster, in her first role since winning an Oscar for "The Accused," and Mr. Hopkins, an actor of cool and eloquent precision, give exciting substance to the roles written by Ted Tally, who adapted the screenplay from a novel by Thomas Harris. An earlier Thomas novel, "Red Dragon," in which the homicidal doctor also appears, was the basis of the 1986 film "Manhunter."

Miss Foster and Mr. Hopkins are so good, in fact, that Clarice and Hannibal sometimes seem more important than the mechanics of "The Silence of the Lambs," which is, otherwise, committed to meeting the obligations of a suspense melodrama.

Mr. Demme meets most of these obligations with great style. The buildup to the dread Hannibal's first scene is so effective that one almost flinches when he appears. Never after that, for good reason, does Hannibal become trusted, though he is always entertaining to have around.

Eventually, though, the demands of the plot begin to take precedence over people and plausibility. Hannibal not only can help with the Buffalo Bill case, but he also knows who Buffalo Bill is. About halfway through, so does the audience, at which point the movie shifts to a lower, more functional gear even as the pace increases.

The screenplay, which is very effective in detailing character, is occasionally hard pressed to feed the audience enough information so that it can follow the increasingly breathless manhunt without a roadmap.

I'm told it helps if one has read the book, but reading the book shouldn't be a requirement to enjoy the film. At a crucial point the audience must also accept, as perfectly reasonable and likely, some instant surgery that allows the story to continue moving forward.

This may be hair-splitting. "The Silence of the Lambs" is not meant to be a handy home guide to do-it-yourself face liftings. Yet the movie is so persuasive most of the time that the wish is that it be perfect.

Although the continuity is sometimes unclear, the movie is clearly the work of adults. The dialogue is tough and sharp, literate without being literary.

Mr. Demme is a director of both humor and subtlety. The gruesome details are vivid without being exploited. He also handles the big set pieces with skill. The final confrontation between Clarice and the man she has been pursuing is a knockout -- a scene set in pitch dark, with Clarice being stalked by a killer who wears night-vision glasses.

Mr. Glenn is stalwart as Clarice's F.B.I. mentor, but the role is no match for those of his two co-stars.

The good supporting cast includes Anthony Heald, as another doctor who might be as nutty as Hannibal, and Ted Levine, as a fellow who spends more time making his own clothes than is entirely healthy. Roger Corman, the self-styled king of B-pictures, who gave Mr. Demme his start in film making, appears briefly as the director of the F.B.I.
NYT

I just finished the book this was based on, and that always change the movie experience, and not always in a positive way. That didn't happened this time: the movie was great, just as I had expected. I loved Jodie Foster's character, the accent! Anthony Hopkins was also great.

Loistava elokuva joka lukeutuu sekä Fosterin, että Hopkinsin roolisuorituksiin. Kaikki kahdenkeskiset kohtaukset ovat timatteja ja elokuvan jaksaa katsoa aina vaan uudelleen ja löytää siitä samalla aivan uusia tasoja.