When I viewed The Silence of the Lambs for the first time, I thought the film was based on a real life American madman, illustrating that I did not pay attention to the credits to then wander off to explore Harris as a suspense author in print, though now I understand, given that the author is southern, why Hopkins was disparaging toward Jodie Foster. Let this be a lesson to you about the practice of being a keen observer.
Juxtaposed against what limited cable programming I do view, however, Hannibal is quite good, and alerts older viewers to its inside humor, referencing films like Hell Motel (yes, I enjoy some camp) and the notorious character, like Norman Bates. I like the fact that the script writers do not dumb it down. The entire cast can be applauded for maturity and subtly, including this cosmopolitan charmer. Actual fans of Harris may know how to rate Mikkelsen better than I, but I am as yet undecided as to whether Mads' Hannibal is too humane, too sympathetic-- nor am I sure that Fishburne's Crawford hasn't cast his net from the opening.
I will never read Thomas Harris. Slice and dice isn't really my thing, though I do read noir. Noir is a more contextualized genre and can lend itself to interesting experiments. Thrillers are normally too linear in print form-- not in this series, however. I have purchased one episode already, wasting money on television, but this is worth owning.
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