Hannibal rising tells the story of young Hannibal, a phase of his life which was supposedly turned him into a cannibal. It began in Lithuania, a country in northern Europe, where Hannibal Lecter resided with his family in the castle. The World War II was spreading across Europe forcing his family to leave the residence and hide themselves in a house deep inside the woods where a very tragic incident started to roll.

I really do enjoy the beginning of the film until the scene where Hannibal’s mother dies, and he starts to scream ‘Mama, mama…’ then it’s completely gone into boring and sleepy mode. The story is set in Lithuania during World War II and later in France, yet surprisingly everyone seems to be able to speak English fluently.

Gong Li portrays her role nicely as Hannibal’s aunt, Lady Murasaki who teaches Hannibal Kendo lesson. But she’s not Japanese (Western people probably couldn’t tell the differences anyway) and I can’t wrap my head around Kendo. I know this is supposed to be an early life, teenage Hannibal who cares nothing but revenge. Unfortunately the film turns out to be just another psycho killer film filled up with blood and tasteless methods. If you like violence, I can tell you that there are other films a lot better than this one, such as ‘Hostel’.