A&E

Sean Morris

Staff Writer

While the headline  statement may be bold, it goes to show that NBC’s Hannibal is nothing short of a masterpiece. Plain and simple, it’s one of the most underrated and looked aside but remains to be one of, if not the best shows on television right now. From the beautiful, soulful acting to the artful cinematography, to the razor sharp costuming, the detailed sets, to poetic dialogue to even the careful color selection, Hannibal is a series that pays attention to the slightest details. In the hand of any other creator, Hannibal would have been another regular gritty police procedural, but showrunner Bryan Fuller has done something else- he’s elevated horror to an art form.

The series follows Special FBI agent Will Graham who has the unique ability to empathize with even the most savage and insane of serial killers. Head of the FBI Behavioral sciences Jack Crawford enlists Will to get into the mind of these killers in the hopes of catching them, but Will soon develops unsettling side effects and nightmares following his  visits into the deranged minds. To help him cope with the trauma, they enlist renowned and cultured psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who takes will as a patient. Naturally, Hannibal is actually the most deranged of them all and sends Will down a metal spiral, along with meeting other characters from Thomas Harris’ books including the tough Jack Crawford, the insane sadistic Mason Verger the smarmy Dr. Chilton, and this season the terrifying Red Dragon himself, all in this acclaimed series (can’t underestimate that; it’s one of the few shows to receive 100% fresh on rotten tomatoes, beat every show for Hulu’s Best of the best, praised as one of TV’S best shows by IGN, A.V club,TVGuide.com, and New York Magazine; who called it “Bolder and more elegant than True Detective”, and “The best drama and Network television” to which I agree).

The visuals are in no small part of what makes the series so enjoyable. How the cinematography teams does Will’s visions, the transitions from scene to scene, the remarkable zoom ups and masterful costuming- from Hannibal’s beautiful three piece suits ( in my opinion, he’s the best dressed man on tv, (eat that, Don Draper) to journalists Freddy Lound’s unique style and more.specially the cooking scenes in which Dr. Lecter is serving up meat of human beings- dear God does it look good and tasty. All of this goes to show that the eyes are never left hungry  (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Among the things I love about this show is that it doesn’t pander to its audience. It treats them like intelligent human beings and its shows through the artful metaphors, dialogue and brilliant plotlines shown. It’s able to sneak in references to the books and movies by using dialogue, but it always feels natural and leaves fun easter eggs for fans. It’s cast is also wonderful, with strong performances given around, especially by Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Gina Torres, Michael Pitt, Gillian Anderson and undoubtedly Mads Mikkelsen, who nails it so much as Hannibal I might have to say he’s the best version ,although it’s up for debate. It also has a wonderful selection of female characters, not yet including Ms. Clarice Starling, who NBC is fighting for the rights to her character who were lacking in the original content, including changing the gender of two who were previously male. One of the biggest concerns in making this series for a lot of people was that it would cover old ground- when it fact it does the opposite although they are starting on novel adaptations and is able to re-write material and change it up in bold, new and exciting ways. Another great aspect is its fans, deemed “fannibals” who are able to make HILARIOUS comics and memes posted below, stunning artwork and also has a wonderful showrunner who constantly engages and tweets with fans as well as other cast members posting concept art, symbolism and more, many times in real time with the episode.

Series 3 returns on June 4th and you can find the previous two seasons available on demand and on Amazon Instant streaming. I highly recommend this show to anyone with a taste for enjoyable television, trust me you won’t regret, you’ll just be hungry for more…

Sean Morris

Staff Writer

First let me talk off some of the high points of this film, because there are several.

First and best of all was James Spader in the role of the titular villain. Able to bring humor, terror and exuding a sense of power through impressive CGI and harrowing voice work has brought a villain for the ages. For all the faults in this film I’m so glad he didn’t disappoint, rather he excited my expectations. Not to take away anything from the rest of the stellar cast- including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders and Samuel L. Jackson, new cast members like Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Andy Serkis, Thomas Kretschmann and, while I think it might have been over-done, cameos from actors like Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, and of course Stan Lee (who might have had his best one yet) were still enjoyable.

However. As I sat in the theater on friday afternoon watching this film — which was certain to make an incredible amount of money — i felt perplexed by  the sheer number of plates in they had in the air. I seriously think that Joss Whedon was given WAAAY too much creative control for his own good. The plotline introduced new characters that weren’t given enough time to expand before losing them. Their presence  could have been more fine-tuned to an individual movie an odd love interest subplot. Despite some very nice high points, their presence doesn’t make this the superior to the first, and leaves me a bit worried what the rest of not only the marvel movies will be going, but superhero movies in general.

My main problem for the plot stems from the sheer number of characters they had already and were expanding upon and giving them content that could have better explored in a separate film, bringing in new interesting characters but lacking to do more with them and making it all cohesive. Its a weird divide I have upon appreciating using and having all of these characters and on the other wonder if it’s a bit excessive, especially when the next films (the Infinity Wars part I and II) will very likely be doing the same thing.

I also wasn’t overly fond of the Black Widow/ Hulk romance sub storyline, especially as I felt that she and Hawkeye has much better chemistry and history. Speaking of which, I found his particularly character development odd with so much being given away about his life that it wasn’t done in a separate film focusing on his, or even better yet black widow’s character, especially as there is a big want for it.

And while his motivations seemed in a flux, Ultron’s ultimate plan did provide for an EPIC battle with the horde of his drones fighting the avengers in a very entertaining sequence, particularly when Ultron himself addressed the crowd and we can see the various drones transmitting his words. Although I will say, without spoiling too much, the stakes were the entire human race and in their time sensitive predicament it felt a pretty weird that it seemed like the immediate concern was that the general population made it to safety. While I can understand the “movie logic” behind it- keeping the heroes as heroic as possible, I feel as though it pandered a bit too much to the audience, and even the younger viewers a bit when realistically if between a city of a few thousand and the entire HUMAN POPULATION it didn’t make sense. And I realize I’m talking in terms of realism and sense in a movie where a Norse god and a guy with arrows are fighting an army of robots. But suspension of disbelief can only go so far.

I would still recommend going to see the film, its reviews are so varied you could very easily like certain parts as much as I didn’t It’ll probably be the summer’s biggest blockbuster and one of the year’s biggest moneymaker (until the behemoth of Star Wars comes in December). In fact because I have so many mixed feeling I may end wanting to see it again, all the plot might have caught me off for a first time viewing, so perhaps a second will clarify things up a bit.