Thriller Review: Red Dragon*

The film starts with the opening credits. The text is split into two colours vertically, the left side red and the right side white. By the text being split into two it reflects the split personality of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the red representing his gory, monstrous, carnivorous personality and white showing his bland, normal, everyday human-being personality. The colours of the text also mirror the title of the film 'Red Dragon'. After being displayed the text fades out, giving the impression they are fading 'into the dark', as the colour of the background (which the text is displayed on) is black.
The next scene opens with a view of an orchestra playing. After an over-view of the orchestra is shown a crane shot sweeps down showing the audience watching happily. However, the camera then centers focus on a smartly dressed white male (who we know to be Dr. Hannibal Lecter.) Zooming in slowly we see this man paying an unusual amount of attention to one member of the orchestra, who keeps playing the odd wrong note. As the flute player plays yet another wrong note, Dr. Lecter winces slightly - this shows his unnatural attention to detail, and shows how he is highly intellectual. As out of the whole orchestra he picked up on only a few wrong notes made by one member. A shot of the flute player is shown as the orchestra finishes playing, then cutting back to Hannibal. Hannibal tilts his head slightly, as if a thought has entered his mind maybe showing a change in his character. Or possibly, this tilt of the head reflects Hannibal’s primitive side, looking at the flute player as if he was pray, Dr. Lecter being the predator.
The next scene is a shot of a street of well-kept looking houses, implying that is a more of an upper class area. Old looking cars are also spread along the street (props used to set the era). Attention is drawn to the middle house, as it is the only house with lights on inside. The house is also painted white in contrast to the surrounding houses which are dark. By being white, this also draws attention to the house and shows that it is important. The house also gives out an eerie feeling by the having red curtains, red representing blood and gore, it hinting towards the horror that lies within the house.
The shot then mores to show a dinner party within the house, the room in which this is taking place conveys a sense of sophistication, with dark wooden furniture, dimly lit with candles, and a great array of different cultural and lavish objects. This shows how cultured, wealthy and refined Hannibal is, reflecting his personality, also giving us an insight into Hannibal.
Hannibal circles the dinner table, where his guests are sitting, like a circling vulture. This shows Hannibal to be a predator, and also shows his authority as he stands over the others. Hannibal shows off his intellect with witty conversation and vocabulary he uses, the dinner guests discuss the disappearance of the flute player seen in the previous scene, a close up of Hannibal’s face shows him to be slightly worried as he serves his meal.

When asked by one of his guests what the food served is, Hannibal replies ‘If I told you … I’m afraid you wouldn’t eat it.’ This play on words hints towards the gruesome happenings that have taken place, dramatic irony is added as the woman happily eats the food, which we know to be her friend.

The next shot shown is the introduction of a new character, we are shown his importance as Hannibal addresses him as ‘FBI Agent Mills’, inviting him into his home. The camera pans around the room as Mills meanders’ around, admiring Hannibal’s intriguing possessions. The two men discuss a murder case that Mills is working on, and as they do Mills comes across a recipe book open at particular page. The music builds up adding tension as Mills comes to realize that the murderer he is investigating is the Dr Hannibal Lecter. Mills try’s to stay calm but Hannibal already knows that his secret has been uncovered. The music cuts out as only a heartbeat is heard in the background. Hannibal stabs Mills, but still tries to do it in a caring manner. Hannibal expresses his knowledge in this area describing what is happening physiologically to Mills, showing that he has done this before.
The opening credits run, showing a scrapbook of gruesome and unusual images being made, the creator remains unknown. The happenings proceeding the stabbing of Mills are shown through a series of informative newspaper articles, informing us that Hannibal was sentenced to a high security prison for murdering and eating several people, and that Hannibal did not succeed in killing Mills.
From this I have noticed thrillers keep you in suspense, and the audience normally know who the killer is before the detective or police do in the film.