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85%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #26
...out of 14,074 movies
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FBI trainee, Clarice Starling ventures into a maximum-security asylum to pick the diseased brain of Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist turned homicidal cannibal. Starling needs clues to help her capture a serial killer. But her Faustian relationship with Lecter soon leads to his escape, and now two deranged killers are on the loose.
--TMDb
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Since 1986 one name in thriller cinema has grown into a household legend. Kids know his name before they ever see him and just know he's a bad, bad man. Through five (increasingly southbound) films this character has graced the screens giving many people the heebie jeebies with just his wit and a smile. His name of course is Dr. Hannibal Lector.
Forget Manhunter for a minute and flash forward to 1991; the year Silence of the Lambs hit theatres. Based on the novel written by Thomas Harris this film centers around young FBI trainee, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), who has been hand selected by her boss to obtain information on 'Buffalo Bill' (Ted Levine), a local serial killer known for skinning his victims. Unfortunately for her (but fortunately for us) she has to get this information from none other than Dr. Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) an extremely manipulative serial killer, currently behind bars in a maximum security prison.
The mind tricks begin almost immediately between these two (along with a growing admiration for each other) as Clarice gets closer to figuring out exactly who Buffalo Bill is.
Anthony Hopkins is the only man who could have done as good a job as he did with Dr. Lector. He turned a simple greeting ("Hello, Clarice") into THE creepiest thing you could say to someone named Clarice. Just looking into his eyes would do you harm and a simple conversation with him could give your every thought a complete 180. But this wasn't just a one man show. As annoying as her accent was it still sounded legit and with that Jodie Foster was able to give us a great portrayal of a southern cadet hard-pressed for answers and time. Ted Levine was also great, especially in the disturbingly delightful “Goodbye Horses” scene, showing us his “walk on the wild side”.
Not only was the acting great (on everyones part) in this film but the script was solid too. Through the constantly flowing storyline and the building suspense during their race against time we were treated to tight dialogue, a few twists, and a platter of classy wit and plenty of memorable lines, later spoofed in such great comedies as Dumb and Dumber and Clerks 2.
10/10. Definitely.
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#1:
Ginose
- added 09/01/2007, 03:50 AM
Greatest thriller ever made?
Greatest based
on a book, for certain.
9.7/10
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#2:
ThunderStruck5a
- added 09/02/2007, 09:00 PM
i dont remember saying greatest thriller ever made
(and im too lazy to reread it right now and find
out if i actually did) but if i did thats a
mistake because they call sin city a thriller and
that would trump silence of the lambs any day.
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#3:
Ginose
- added 09/02/2007, 10:15 PM
I was actually questioning the people who read the
comments, though I suppose I see you're
confussion....
"SotL" kicked "Sin
City"'s ass...
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#4:
ThunderStruck5a
- added 09/02/2007, 11:04 PM
not even close. i loved SotL but there is no way
it beats sin city; not in any department. sin city
was also based on a book in very good fashion. i
think we've got a legitament poll on our hands.
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#5:
Ginose
- added 09/03/2007, 04:38 AM
"Sin City" is based on a graphic novel...
But I agree aobut the poll... willing to
put all of my honor on "SotL" though... far more
popular... and timeless...
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#6:
bluemeanie
- added 09/03/2007, 05:31 PM
"The Silence of the Lambs" crushes "Sin City" to a
staggering degree, and I loved "Sin City". In 50
years, "The Silence of the Lambs" will be still be
considered a classic, but "Sin City" will just be
"Sin City". It also gave us one of the greatest
screen villains of all-time. It re-defined the
thriller. It invented it, to some extent, for a
new generation of film goers. This film is
universally groundbreaking. 10/10.
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#7:
Tristan
- added 09/05/2007, 12:47 PM
Why are Sin City and Silence of the Lambs even
being compared? They're very different movies, and
Sin City is trash compared to SotL. I loved Sin
City, don't get me wrong, but seriously, the two
are on different playing fields. "Are you about a
size 14?" I'm so glad I picked this movie up
today. Tad pricey, but it's the 2-Disc special
edition. 10/10
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#8:
bluemeanie
- added 09/05/2007, 01:48 PM
They're being compared because they were speaking
of the Greatest Thriller of All-Time. I think
it's ludicrous to even think "Sin City" a better
film than "The Silence of the Lambs", much less a
better thriller. "The Silence of the Lambs"
pretty much defines that genre.
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#9:
ThunderStruck5a
- added 09/05/2007, 03:26 PM
they are on two different fields which is why i
didnt even think about it at first, but
technically they're both thrillers. and as
entertaining as SotL was (which it was) i will
always be more entertained by sin city. in 50
years sin city will still be remembered as a film
filled with great strides in cinematic technology
and what not. im sure its sequels wont though (if
they ever come out). ill agree that the two are
incomparable and leave it at that.
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#10:
Tristan
- added 09/15/2007, 01:42 PM
Sin City isn't much of a thriller. It is
technically, but i didn't see it as that.
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#11:
bluemeanie
- added 09/25/2007, 05:15 PM
I don't know about 'great strides in cinematic
technology'. Robert Rodriguez was really just
modernizing a technology that Richard Linklater
helped pioneer a lot earlier.
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