What if Will Graham, the FBI investigator, would have no idea that his friend is Hannibal Lecter itself?
This is the following question that is going to be answered in the newest NBC TV series Hannibal. Bryan Fuller, the artistic director of this project, is also known as an author of other series “Pushing Daisies”. Characters were created according to Thomas Hariss novel “Red Dragon” but the series and book are like two different worlds. “Hannibal” is an enchanting scene full of tension and complexity supplemented by unusual elements of violence.
The format of the series
Foremost, the series can be described as a detective drama which is full of crime scenes’ investigations, hints, analysis and strain. A story is divided into parts. There is no part without different murder, its investigation, results and also unusual senses which are experienced during the series. The idea to take a look at the very first book about Hannibal Lecter and to find out something what was not known before was a really clever step.
The creators of this series paid a lot of attention to Will Graham, one of the main characters. His life in the past is described in a book “Red Dragon” but everything about Will is with a shade of uncertainty and just at the end of a book it turns out that his life in the past was touching and full of horrible experiences which Will faced during the raid when was chasing a serial murderer called Minnesota Shrike. Thus the first season is exactly about Will’s psychological experiences, the very first consultation with a psychologist Hannibal Lecter, their friendship and the moment when situation turns upside-down.
The creators of “Hannibal” also pay a lot of attention to Graham’s past and his psychological condition. Every crime is like a reference to a topic which will be discussed during the consultations with Hannibal. This is a very interesting way to present both stories in one place and compel an audience.
The tone of “Hannibal” is cold and its mood is created using colours. Dominating colours are grey and blue which sometimes are interrupted by shocking red blood colour. From the first minutes of the series you can feel that there will not be any elements of comedy. The soundtrack is intensive and catches suddenly. The instrumental music is accompanied by sharp moments of the strings. It provides the series with the same emotion that must be prevailed – fear, sorrow, disgust.
A scene from “Hannibal”
The characters
Although there are a number of characters throughout the series and they are wonderful, the most we would like to discuss are Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter. They deserve to be put on a pedestal.
The first parts of the series show Will Graham’s personality. At first sight, he reminds an FBI agent who fights against serious psychological disorders and can even be called an autistic individual, but he is not so, on the contrary, he feels too much. His essential quality – to recreate murders he is investigating as if he was a murderer himself. It is hard to realize how he does it but one thing can be noticed – it tortures and troubles him, therefore any contact with a person can drive him crazy.
We can claim that acting is vulnerability. Vulnerability when we see an actor and his weaknesses. In a nutshell, vulnerability is everything what makes him a human being. Hugh Dancy, the British actor, who is acting Will Graham, fully conveys the pain that his character feels when interacting with people. Will’s character is getting more and more unstable but H. Dancy takes us to his side and compels to support him. His abilities are something that attracts Hannibal Lecter the most. The desire to feel the same what Graham feels.
Mads Mikkelsen plays the role of Hannibal Lecter. Just one thing can be said – he is a real Hannibal! In the past, there were many actors, who played this role. The most memorable is Anthony Hopkins in “The Silence of the Lambs” where he is a seductive and ugly type. This role earned him a brilliant Oscar statue. Mads Mikkelsen seems to be a mix of Lecters who were before but at the same time he is something more. He is mysterious, sexy, unpredictable, cruel and even more because he evokes dozens of emotions. Mads does not even look like Lecter, he represents Lecter with such an insight that sometimes you can forget that he is a monster who represents the dark side of the humanity. Mikkelsen is so convincing that after some time you start to like Hannibal and that really terrifies and intrigues. He enjoys all forms of beauty which we see as the top form of disgust.
Verdict 9/10
In conclusion we would like to add that the series “Hannibal” is inviting, giving a lot of emotions and accompanied by sick cruelty. Hannibal is for those who have iron nerves. If you think that you are one of them, we recommend it, because it is one of the best series which can be seen on TV at the moment.
