Tags: Anthony Hopkins | Frankie Faison | Gary Oldman | Julianne Moore | Ray Liotta | Ridley Scott

Despite everything - good soundtrack, smart cinematography and grand thespian Anthony Hopkins - this much-hyped film remains a tiring, unrewarding and soulless experience.

Part of this can be attributed to the expectations that inevitably come with following a truly great thriller like Silence of the Lambs, but a larger part is attributable to an unforgivably stupid ending by David Mamet and the blithe slasher movie approach the film takes to the most disturbing scenes of violence this side of the snuff trade.

The haunting and complex exploration into the Depths offered by Lambs here becomes an irony tinged gore-ride. If you aren't inclined to think much about films, then go and bathe in the blood. But if you take your movies seriously, you will most likely find Hannibal (Two-Disc Special Edition) to be an empty and mildly nauseating experience. I don't care how much it grossed in the States, this is bad art, in bad taste. And sometimes bad taste can be delicious.

Thinky says: "Let them eat sequals."