Hannibal, released in 2001, is part three of the Hannibal Lecter trilogy. Edited by Pietro Scalia and directed by Ridley Scott, also known for ground-breaking films such as Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator, Hannibal stars Anthony Hopkins as the criminally-insane Dr. Lecter. The movie also stars Julianne Moore as FBI agent Clarice Starling, Ray Liotta as Justice Dept. official Paul Krendler, Giancarlo Giannini as Italian cop Rinaldo Pazzi, and Gary Oldman as Mason Verger, to name a few. It was written for the screen by David Mamet and Academy Award winner Steven Zaillian. The films cinematographer is John Mathieson, who also worked on Gladiator with Scott.
             Hannibal, believed to be the sequel to Silence of the Lambs, is actually the third movie containing Dr. Lecter. The earliest of the trilogy was Manhunter in 1986 where Dr. Lecter was introduced as a peripheral character followed by Silence of the Lambs in 1991. Hannibal begins after Dr. Hannibal Lecter escaped from the asylum in Baltimore at the end of Silence of the Lambs. The demented doctor is now in Florence, Italy where he has become one of the curators of the Palazzo Vecchio and has learned to stop eating human flesh all the time. His cover is broken when cop Rinaldo Pazzi will turn Dr. Lecter over, for money, to his old patient, Mason Verger. Mason is a person more twisted and evil than the doctor, because Dr. Lecter made him cut his own face off with a piece of glass and feed it to his dogs. It also caused him to be paralyzed and on a respirator, which furthered his anger even more. FBI agent Clarice Starling uncovers Mason's evil plot to feed Dr. Lecter to a bunch of man-eating hogs and will do anything to make sure that Mason does not succeed. A sympathetic Dr. Lecter saves agent Starling, reciprocating the favor agent Starling was to bestow upon him after finding him bound and ready to be eaten. The movie ends with Dr. Lecter eluding authorities again, but on...