Posted: 01/01/02

Manhunter (1986)
by Robert Baum

"As a child, my heart bleeds for him. Someone took a little boy and turned him into a monster. But as an adult... as an adult, he's irredeemable. He butchers whole families to fulfill some sick fantasy. As an adult, I think someone should blow the sick fuck out of his socks." - Will Graham

Will Graham (Petersen) is initially reluctant to take the assignment, as his prior pursuit of a madman gave him a nervous breakdown. The same maniac, a cannibal serial killer shrink named Hannibal Lektor (Brian Cox) is whom the retired agent must visit in order to enable him to re-enter a world of darkness: the mind of a killer.

As Graham throws himself further into his work, his wife (Kim Greist, the girl of Johnathan Pryce's dreams in Brazil) fears it will destroy him. If going to get advice from Lektor was bad, crossing paths again with a loudmouth tabloid shutterbug (Stephen Lang) is not exactly an action the agent cares for either. Still, his quest to bring down the madman nicknamed the Tooth Fairy is a top priority for Graham.

Just as it is a challenge for Graham to stay sane, his quarry (Tom Noonan) is also posed with a dilemma. It seems the monster is harboring the hope of a romance with an attractive blind trainee (Joan Allen, also in The Contender) employed at a photo lab. It is the very facility that processes the film of his victims. Their one date proves to be something of an odd one: he takes her to an associate who works in veterinary medicine; the associate's patient is a tiger. The young woman's caressing of the anesthetized predatory feline makes for a moment in the film that is both haunting and erotic.

Mann, who produced the stylish cop series Miami Vice again gives us an offering that engages the viewer's senses. From start to finish, Manhunter offers something to one's senses in just about every shot and every scene, more so than any blood and gore fests from the likes of John Carpenter, Brian DePalma, and Wes Craven. This adaptation of Thomas Harris' Red Dragon will chill you to the bone, thanks to the masterful direction of Michael Mann (Ali, Heat, Last of the Mohicans). Manhunter is a modern masterpiece of sheer cinematic terror that one won't soon forget.