The monstrous Hannibal Lector is given a back story in Hannibal Rising, which is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris.

Gaspard Ulliel stars as young Hannibal, the eldest son of a rich aristocratic family who is left an orphan after his parents are killed during WWII, and his baby sister Mischa (Helena-Lia Tachovska) is eaten by a band of looting SS Troops led by the sociopathic and sadistic Grutus (Rhys Ifans).

Psychologically scarred by the event, Hannibal is taken in by his late uncle’s oriental bride Lady Murasaki (Li Gong). They both relocate to Paris where the cunning and highly intelligent Lector is given the education, means, and opportunity to revenge his sister’s death by killing and consuming the flesh of those responsible.

A soulless composition, Hannibal Rising fails to provide a back story worthy of Lector’s legacy, and only tarnishes the mysterious complexities and frightening nature which Lector conjures.

Harris’ disgraceful screen adaptation of his own book side steps many important character motives and traits which made his novel interesting enough to endure, and also features terrible dialogue uttered with no emotion by its failing cast. This has left director Peter Webber to create an unsympathetic and uninteresting movie devoid of emotion and logic, and with an over abundance of hardcore violence, gore, and as many sly The Silence of the Lambs era images as possible, the latter only succeeding in reminding us how good the franchises former instalments really were.

The acting on hand is rather poor. Gaspard Ulliel - who although inhabits the look and the statuesque posture to play the part – is frustratingly missing the wicked charm, that wink of the eye which Lector possesses to seduce his victims, Li Gong is extremely dour and only excels in providing good scenery, and Dominic West seems to be going through the emotions with his boring portrayal of a key character. Only Rhys Ifans and his not so merry gang of war criminals provide solid performances.

The films look is its only saving grace, with the gorgeous photography by Ben Davis, lavish production design by Allan Starski and set decoration by Judy Farr, (along with an effective score by Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi) stopping the film from drowning in its own ego and shallowness.        

A cash-in devoid of the menacing nature and intelligence of previous instalments, Hannibal Rising should only be seen if by those in dire need of some well deserved sleep, exactly the opposite effect a thriller should have on its audience.