''Hannibal''

THE twisted saga of Dr. Lector continues from ``The Silence Of The Lambs'' to Paramount Film's ``Hannibal''. Sinister and chilling in the first film putting Anthony Hopkins on a different plane as an actor, the sequel is rather tame - some gory scenes, dark ambience and moody background score, notwithstanding.

As all sequels, unless the first part has been absorbed it takes a while to figure out what is going on - in this instance the hype and the drama that preceded its release seem unwarranted because other than the pursuit of the ``most wanted criminal'' for the FBI and the revenge angle for a badly maimed but surviving victim of Hannibal's macabre brain, the film is no great shakes - it proceeds in a rather convoluted fashion if one may add, to its grisly but predictable end.

It has none of the panache or the calibre of ``Silence of the Lambs'' and has Julianne Moore playing the gutsy FBI. She seems emotionless and tough most of the time. As for Anthony Hopkins, he is smooth and graceful despite the sinister nature of his pursuit and activities, which mostly include biting off his victims' ears, nose or fingers. He is older and elegant but the chase continues - to arrest him and put him behind bars, the maximum-security Hospital For The Criminally Insane, from which he escaped ten years earlier.

It is also ten years since Clarice Starling (Julianne) interviewed him in the hospital and he still thinks of her and wonders if his life can ever be complete without her. So many years later she is still his fondest crush and fantasy. He is at large enjoying the music and culture of Italy looking forward to the chase and the terror he unleashes in the process.

There is more. There is Mason Verger - unimaginably rich and horribly disfigured as a result of Hannibal's moment of fun. His soul and deformed body crave for revenge and he knows he has to use Clarice to bait the doctor.

Ridley Scott directs this brooding, gloomy film. Adapted from a book of the same title, it makes one wonder about the human mind - the author and the almost unbelievable characters that are created. The film also has Giancarlo Giannini, Franscesca Neri, Ray Liotta, Ivano Marescott, and David Andrews in the cast.

CHITRA MAHESH

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