Manhunter (1986) Review:

Crime and cop movies have been around for a long time. The idea of seeing the authorities catch their perp before they commit their next act is always something people want. Of course most people would expect the criminal to be a simple one. It’s when that criminal is more slippery and hard to understand, that it begins to get tough and super stressful. While this particular film did not get many awards or nominations, it is still considered a decent crime film thanks to the material it was based on and the people involved. This was also the third film for director Michael Mann who would later direct The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Heat (1995), Ali (2001) and Public Enemies (2009). Blackhat (2015) is also under his name but let’s forget that one. The only thing is here, for a thriller it doesn’t do much of that, which is kind of surprising.

Based on the book “Red Dragon” by Thomas Harris, with a screenplay written by Michael Mann, the story follows William Graham (William Petersen) a former F.B.I. agent being reeled back in to help solve a crime no one seems to understand. Hoping to make it his final time since his last encounter was with the traumatizing Hannibal Lecktor (Brian Cox), Graham agrees to help with his friend Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina) leading the case. Another reason why Graham will not take another assignment after this one is because he has a wife Molly (Kim Greist) and son Kevin (David Seaman) he’d rather not endanger. The killer who’s being nicknamed the “Tooth Fairy” (Tom Noonan) so far has been getting away with his killings without leaving a trace. Noonan would not long after this role be known as Cain in RoboCop 2 (1990).

Believe it or not though, this film displays many familiar faces on screen before they created their signature characters. William Petersen is best known now as Gill Grissom from the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation show. Brian Cox has been in all kinds of popular movies like X-2: X-Men United (2003) Trick ‘r Treat (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and R.E.D. (2010). Joan Allen who plays a film developer assistant in the movie would be in the The Bourne Supremacy (2004). A very young Stephen Lang appears too but would get noticed more in Gods and Generals (2003), Avatar (2009) and Don’t Breathe (2016). There’s Dan Butler known for voicing Mr. Simmons in Nickelodeon’s Hey Arnold! Paul Perri who plays a friend of the main character Will would have a shining moment in Demolition Man (1993).

There’s the girl technician from RoboCop 2 (1990), a young Chris Elliot, that one guy who became a thing in John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) and even David Allen Brooks aka Agent Manners from Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000), who’s featured only in an archive video. As for performances go, the actors all do great jobs. William Petersen truly plays his character like a guy who doesn’t want to get involved again but is still determined to catch the killer. Tom Noonan as the “Tooth Fairy” shows even before being in RoboCop 2 (1990) he knew how to act like a mentally unhinged person. Lastly who gets the least screen time but relishes every moment is Brian Cox as Lecktor. Cox plays it smooth but sneaky all the same. It’s an underrated performance considering who would play the character later on.

For cinematography, Dante Spinotti handled the camerawork for this picture. Right from the start viewers should be able to easily enjoy Spinotti’s skill. Because of the wide shots, the camera captures much of the surrounding areas that the story takes place in. Spinotti also later shot for Hudson Hawk (1991), Heat (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Hercules (2014) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). Lastly the music composed by Michel Rubini and The Reds had an interesting sound. Amazingly there is a theme for Graham and the music works for the film. Whether it’s memorable or not is debatable. The music is definitely a sound from the time, but the soundtrack does have other moments that stand out featuring other artists like Shriekback, The Prime Movers and Iron Butterfly.

As the start to making of the Hannibal films, this crime thriller has everything but the thrills. This doesn’t make it bad as a good cop film can entertain without it. But it does feel like something’s missing. The acting is exceptional, the story works well, the camerawork is effective and the music is appropriate for the time.

Points Earned --> 8:10