From director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand), Red Dragon is the third film in the “Lecter Trilogy” and the prequel to The Silence of the Lambs. Starring Edward Norton (American History X, Birdman), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Schindler’s List), and of course Anthony Hopkins, the movie reveals how Hannibal Lecter was originally caught and tells the story of “The Tooth Fairy” serial killer. FBI agent Will Graham is brought out of retirement to hunt down the fiend who only kills families during a full moon. Once again the audience is treated to a dialogue with Lecter who is equal parts helpful and hindering with the investigation.

More fucked up killings take place, which is what all moviegoers were interested in seeing at this point in the series, but Red Dragon serves up more of a thoughtful story compared to a Saw sequel of a sequel. Although this is my least favorite of the trilogy’s killers, overall the film provides an attention-grabbing enough tale. Fiennes’ performance is fienne and Norton’s banter with Hopkins is adequate. Even the supporting cast, including Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emily Mortimer, do a good job rounding out the very specific and intimate personalities of this varied cast of characters. I feel as if this installment and Hannibal are underrated especially with how often Silence is quoted. But if you’ve made it this far you are probably already more invested in saga of Lecter than most and you were going to watch this no matter what I wrote. Did I mention there is an excellent TV series?

OK, geeze, I’ll let you go!

4 dollar hides out of 5

★★★★☆