Having been very disappointed with the film adaptation of the final part of the Hannibal' Lector story and having already seen the original 'Manhunter' I visited the cinema not sure what to expect. Certainly the film has a great cast with Ed Norton (my favourite actor) as the FBI agent, Ralph Fiennes as the Tooth Fairy and of course Anthony Hopkins resurrecting his most famous role as Lector.

Revenge and Destruction
'Red Dragon' is a re-make of the first Lector novel and a prequel to 'Silence of the Lambs' which promises to explore the 'origin of evil'. Well be assured it doesn't do that, but it does send you on a roller-coaster ride of fear and tension while exposing you to the minds of two men who are engaged in the most evil of acts. Both are trying to act out some kind of revenge, the Tooth Fairy through killing whole families and Lector in trying to destroy FBI agent Will Graham, who was the man who finally caught him.

The interesting part of the film was the interplay between Lector and Graham as they play a game of who can get from the other what they want without giving anyway ground. Both parts are played superbly and it is great to see Hopkins playing Lector as strongly as in 'Silence of the Lambs' rather than the almost panto-style Lector of 'Hannibal'.

Evil
The most interesting character is FBI agent Graham who must enter into the world of evil to find out how to overcome it. Will he be able to remain untouched by it or will the affect of delving into the minds of two very evil men actually draw him in.

We live in a world that surrounds us with evil and the biggest challenge we have is to be in the world and not of it. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3,4 - 'for though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.'

God's Authority
Whatever we face, maybe not 2 serial killers, we are assured of God as our strength and Jesus has been given authority over all, therefore whom should we fear.

If you enjoyed (maybe that is not the right word) 'Silence of the Lambs' then you will want to see this and will not feel disappointed. Also look out for the link to the next film right at the end, which is a nice touch.