Manhunter

A gory and gorgeous cop thriller -- you'll forgive it almost anything, so full is your eye with the beauties of its design and photography, and your ear with its supercool electronic music. For all its faults, it's one of the most sensually thrilling movies of the year.

Probing psychological study of madness and damn scary to boot.

As with all of Mann's films, Manhunter is an intense experience. All of the actors, including even legendary goofball Chris Elliott, give brooding, serious performances.

Mann, the executive producer of "Miami Vice," can be too stylish for his own good, but the movie holds the viewer all the way to the predictably explosive end. [25 Aug 1986, p.63]

What matters in movies like this is that, with only hours, then minutes, then seconds to go as the murderer waves a knife in the vicinity of the blind woman's throat, the good guys are closing in, and Mr. Mann builds to his climax with considerable force.

Thanks largely to Petersen, Manhunter does occasionally evoke the peculiar pleasures of Harris's novel, and it does get under the skin, but only because the picture amounts to an aural mugging: the soundtrack, credited to The Reds & Michael Rubini, is Tangerine-Dream-styled electronic offal cranked up to rock concert decibels. [15 Aug 1986, p.D11]

Without a compelling - and convincingly compelled - character at its center, the details in this film lack an agonizing drop-by-drop tension. The various pieces fall apart like the shattered mirrors that figure in the crimes. [15 Aug 1986]

Alongside with "Heat" and "The Last of the Mohicans" - one of the best Mann's movies. Unlike 2002 "Red Dragon", "Manhunter" is an extremely talented and deep adaptation of Harris' brilliant novel. It is in no way your regular maniac thriller, in which terrifing murders shown and tension grows high every minute. And it's not a Lecter movie. Instead, it concentrates on psychological deepness of the main character, FBI special agent Will Graham, whose ability to identify himself with wanted murderers puts him to the edge of the sanity. William Petersen did a superb job of creating one of the deepest movie characters of all time, and it's a pity that he never became a huge star (in 80's he also was great in Fridkin's "To live and die in L.A.") Movie is unforgettable not only because of it's detailed, psychological storyline and wonderful acting, but also vivid visuals and extraterrestial soundtrack. The way Mann and his team use colors and music creates a very special, unrepeatable atmosphere and eve helps in character development. All in all, "Manhunter" is a true masterpiece, both entertaining and thoughtful, and i deeply regret that it is so unpopular nowadays. Everyone should watch it.

I really liked The Silence of the Lambs, so when I heard about this movie, I thought I'd give it a shot. Probably after the success of the aforementioned sequel I saw earlier, Manhunter didn't interest me as much. I was bored most of the time. I wasn't enjoying it. It didn't appeal. Not very interested. I don't know how else to describe it. I liked it now and then, but rarely. For me, it was just not very good. Mostly it was the 80's vibe that pulled it for me, which I love. It wasn't bad. The killer pulled it off too and overall it was an okay movie, I just wasn't into the journey to the killer. For me, an above average movie that I don't recommend.

This has that lovely eighties look to it. The cinematography was fine but some of the editing was a bit jarring. The music is great but otherwise the sound design is fairly standard. The story was a bit slow but actually quite memorable. Not as good as The Silence of the Lambs (1991) by a long shot, mostly because of the cast.

Moviegoing audiences get their first peek at Hannibal Lecter in this underachieving early adaptation of Thomas Harris's first novel, Red Dragon. Brian Cox is first in line to tackle Lecter, but seems misdirected. He plays as just another guy in a cell, not the overwhelming, intimidating presence he is in the book or, later, in the expert hands of Anthony Hopkins and Mads Mikkelsen. That's not the only bit of directorial blunder. In fact, given the amount of star power involved in Manhunter and the gripping power of the source material, it's a major surprise that it's all so blunt, dull and empty. William Peterson (of later CSI fame) leads the show as Will Graham - bland, erratic and prone to nearly-comical mood swings - with a similarly underwhelming effort from character actor Dennis Farina as his supervisor, Jack Crawford. And it's not like the director is some hack. Michael Mann is typically very good behind the camera, but in this case he's just completely missed the mark. There's no underlying tension to the proceedings, none of the complicated character arcs that made the original tale so engrossing. Francis Dollarhyde, the fascinating maniac behind the string of murders driving it all, is cut off at the knees thanks to a criminal lack of exploration. His famous full-torso tattoo is left off-screen, the false teeth that become his trademark converted into a rudimentary, totally unexplained, side prop. As he falls, so does the film. Despite the two-hour running time, this feels shallow and incomplete, rushed to an unsatisfying new ending that's painfully generic. No surprise it took Hollywood another sixteen years to give it another shot - this is a stain.

Deux bonnes choses à retenir de ce "Dragon Rouge" (bizarrement appelé Le Sixième Sens) : la mise en scène soignée de Michael Mann, presque élégante, et la musique électro bien agréable ma foi. A part ça, il est quand même étonnant de constater que les deux adaptations (1986 et 2002) du bouquin de Thomas Harris n'ont débouché que sur des produits médiocres ou moyens (sans compter les autres) alors que la base est là pour construire un polar de qualité. Je n'ai pas lu le bouquin et n'ai pas l'intention de le lire mais il est clair que seul le Silence des Agneaux est réussi parmi les portages des oeuvres psychopathiques de l'auteur, sans doute un heureux accident de parcours qui restera inégalé. Ce "Sixième sens" est très long, très lymphatique et malheureusement, le sémillant et diabolique Anthony Hopkins n'est pas là pour nous aider à faire passer la pillule, décidément très amère et trop dure à avaler ici. J'étais si détaché de ce prétendu thriller que j'ai failli m'endormir plusieurs fois.