I saw this film having read Red Dragon, and I'm afraid that may have meant I couldn't enjoy it as much as I would've done coming to it with no prior knowledge of the story. However, this is a generally effective film, with a very interesting atmosphere and solid performances from all the main cast members. Tom Noonan is excellent as Dolarhyde, but unfortunately his character is vastly cut down from the book, meaning the viewer doesn't understand much of his background or motivation. I understand that Dolarhyde's a very difficult character to adapt due to the fact that he generally keeps his thoughts to himself and spends a lot of time alone, but the film fails to even explain some of the more basic facts about him. The film is quite true to the book apart from the underdevelopment of Dolarhyde, and is generally well done. Unfortunately, the ending in Manhunter is vastly changed from the book, and certainly not for the better. I know a lot of people didn't like the ending of the book and it's not worth arguing about how good it was here, but at least it was quite interesting, unexpected and clever. However, Manhunter just goes with a boring, standard action movie kind of ending.
Overall, it's quite a good film, and people who haven't read the book will probably especially enjoy it. 7/10
Overall, it's quite a good film, and people who haven't read the book will probably especially enjoy it. 7/10