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Manhunter Photos
Movie Info
Cast & Crew
FBI Agent Will Graham (as William Petersen)
Molly Graham
FBI Section Chief Jack Crawford
Reba McClane
Dr. Hannibal Lecktor
Freddy Lounds
News & Interviews for Manhunter
Critic Reviews for Manhunter
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (3)
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... "Manhunter" is a gory and gorgeous cop thriller...
January 4, 2018 | Full Review… -
Manhunter ushered in the age of empathy for the devil.
February 7, 2007 -
I'm intrigued by that stylistic envelope: simultaneously hypnotic and enervating, meditative and empty.
February 7, 2007 | Full Review… -
One of the most impressive American thrillers of the late '80s.
February 9, 2006 | Full Review… -
The movie drives along with such intensity for much of the time that you can just let it work on your senses without worrying about whether it makes sense.
August 30, 2004 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review… -
A slick and glossy thriller that still stands out.
May 2, 2003 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Manhunter
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Nov 08, 2017Working better as an interesting procedural in the way it leads us through a criminal investigation, this film is however less efficient as a character study about a psychopath (or psychopaths if you include Lecktor), as it doesn't offer that much insight into their perverse minds.Carlos M Super Reviewer
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Aug 29, 2015Manhunter doesn't hold up as well as I remember it doing so when I was young. Even then I remember thinking "Why'd they cut out all the best parts from the book?" But now it's even more obvious. And as much as I love an eighties soundtrack, I can't help but pick p on the missed opportunities in my maturing. I get the appeal, but it's not so golden as the times may have told you it is.Gimly M Super Reviewer
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Oct 18, 2013Granted the ensemble, award-winning cast of 'Red Dragon' squarely surpasses the B-list actors of this film and the neon-green font credits insinuate a hip vibe (although the blue filters would certainly substantiate that misconception), but 'Manhunter' is a supremely haunting adaptation of Thomas Harris first Hannibal Lecter novel. The discrepancies between 'Manhunter' and 'Red Dragon' are paramount at the beginning with the recruitment interaction between Crawford and Graham on the beach. In 'Red Dragon', the heinous crimes and retirement status of Graham are explicitly detailed whereas 'Manhunter' is more elliptical in the dialogue and more moody in the bleak tone ala a David Mamet screenplay. Before he reigned in 'CSI', Petersen starred in two of the most pulse-pounding movies of the 80's, 'Manhunter' and 'To Live and Die in L.A.'. Petersen is the tenacious moral compass who must venture into the brooding recesses of his psyche to entrap his prey. For example, he bellows at the Leeds' home videos as if he was Dolarhyde's accomplice. The verbal byplay between Graham and Lecter is almost verbatim, but 'Manhunter' really exploits the sociopathic symbiosis further such as when Graham races out of the prison hyperventilating when Lecter exhorts that "they are very much alike". Michael Mann bathes the terrifically meditative 'Mahunter' in lustrous, nocturnal fluorescence and he burrows deep within the vicarious, pathological rush of investigators who must tap into their demons for civic duty.Cory T Super Reviewer
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Mar 11, 2013It's a clear product of the 1980s, especially when considering the music and corny final image, and it doesn't surpass its sort-of-sequel The Silence of the Lambs, but Manhunter is an exciting and stylish thriller that is a very good movie in its own right and boasts creepy performances from Brian Cox and Tom Noonan as Hannibal Lector and a deranged serial killer dubbed "The Tooth Fairy", respectively.Joey S Super Reviewer
Manhunter Quotes
Will Graham: | It's just you and me now, sport. |
Will Graham: | You've been watching these films. Haven't you....my man. |
Francis Dollarhyde: | You owe me all. |
Francis Dollarhyde: | You owe me awe! |
Will Graham: | I know I'm not smarter than you. |
Dr. Hannibal Lecktor: | Then how did you catch me? |
Will Graham: | You had disadvatages. |
Dr. Hannibal Lecktor: | What disadvantages? |
Will Graham: | You're insane. |
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