Being a big fan of the Thomas Harris books and the films they have been turned into meant that I was quite excited about watching Hannibal Rising. Unfortunately my excitement was short lived as this film was in my opinion a true letdown to the rest of the series. *Spoilers Ahead* The film was supposed to show why Hannibal Lecter is so twisted. Sorry, but am I the only one who prefers NOT to know this? I like the fact that this guy is unpredictable and that we don't know the ins and outs of his history. Furthermore, now that I do actually know the whole story I'm not even that impressed with it! We now know the reason that Hannibal is such a nutcase and that his craving from human flash came from being held prisoner by soldiers as a child. Whilst he and his sister were captured during the war the soldiers decided to kill and eat Hannibal's sister Mischa in order to survive the harsh conditions they were all trapped in, they even fed some to Hannibal whilst he passed in and out of consciousness.

This prompted an older Hannibal to later seek them out and hunt them down one by one to make them pay for Mischa's death and forcing him into the unthinkable act of eating his own sister. Whilst I see the point they are trying to make here, and the fact that something truly dramatic and sickening had to happen to start Hannibal's obsession for flesh and killing as a mother I could barely look at the scenes of Mischa being poked and prodded ready to eat. This wasn't because they were too gory, but the simple fact that I think it's a completely disturbing plotline. I didn't think much to Gaspard Ulliel's portrayal of Lecter throughout the film, and believe he was wrongly cast, he bears no resemblance at all to Anthony Hopkins older Hannibal and whilst that's not the most important thing it certainly had an impact on the way I viewed the movie. His attempts at being dry and sarcastic in places were lost on me and although he was definitely creepy yet strangely charming I just didn't think he fit the role. Did anyone else think differently?

I loved Rhys Ifan's role as Grutas! He gave an energetic and menacing performance which was perhaps the movie's saving grace as far as I'm concerned. Gong Li was also great as Hannibal's aunt. For me, although I know that the whole point of this movie was to tell of Hannibal's childhood and the earlier years of his life, I found it a little too slow paced and drawn out with nothing like the same amounts of gore, action and excitement that are present in the other films. Maybe some of you out there disagree with me on this one, so feel free to hit reply and let me know your thoughts either way!