Red Dragon

Retired FBI man "Will Graham" (Ed Norton) finds himself back working with "Hannibal Lecter" (Sir Anthony Hopkins) at whose hands, years earlier, he only narrowly escaped death - this time on the hunt for the elusive "Tooth Fairy" (Ralph Fiennes) who is running amok in downtown Baltimore using each full moon as an excuse to slaughter two - seemingly unconnected - families. Norton is great in the role; he treads the line between emotionally embattled agent and dedicated, almost obsessed, detective with considerable skill. Hopkins features less frequently, but still exudes menace as only he can and Fiennes, too, has a look of madness and evil about him that, alongside Ted Tally's adept adaptation of Robert Harris' novel, creates a wonderfully tense, suspenseful couple of hours of drama. It hasn't the style, or pace of it's 1991 sequel - but perhaps that's because we have had ten years to absorb just how potent these original characterisations actually were; but this is still is good watch combining horror and wickedness in an, at times, edge of the seat story.