U "Jaganjcima", ostavili smo Dr. Hannibala Lectera (Hopkins) negdje na Karibima, kako se sprema da "vecera sa starim prijateljem". U "Hannibal", srecemo ga u Firenci, kako se prijavljuje za posao kustosa lokalne biblioteke. Frazu "quid pro quo" zamijenio je sa "goody goody" i "okey dokey", ali, za razliku od knjige, sto nije jedini odmak od romana Thomasa Harrisa, Hannibal jos uvijek izgleda isto, i izbjegava policijske napore ostavljajuci sto je manje moguce otisaka prstiju. Jos jednom, Lecter nije glavni negativac, pa ce pripadnici kulta "Jaganjaca" cak i navijati za beskrajno sarmantnog psihopatu. Psi gonici su mu na tragu, medjutim, u obliku, takoreci, njegove jedine prezivjele zrtve, Masona Vergera (vrlo neprepoznatljivi Gary Oldman). Vergerova dugo iscekivana i bogato sponzorirana opsesija hvatanjem Hannibala i njegovim mucenjem na prilicno bizaran nacin, dobija novi zivot kada italijanski policajac Francesco Pazzi nanjusi Lectera. Naravno, kao sto cemo ubrzo saznati, Lecter nije izgubio korak otkako je pobjegao iz svog kaveza u Baltimoreu, i dok si rekao "ljudozder", on ce ponovo biti u SAD.

Tamo, Clarice Starling (koju vise ne igra Jodie Foster, vec Julianne Moore, jednako dobra glumica), vodi drugaciji zivot. Deset godina nakon sto ju je Dr. Lecter proslavio, ona vise nije plasljivi pijun u rukama onih na visem nivou lanca ishrane u FBI. Ona puca da ubije, sto rezultira u bizarnoj cinjenici iz Guinnessove knjige rekorda da je ona zenski agent sa najvise zabiljezenih zrtava. Clarice jos uvijek vjeruje svojim instinktima vise nego svojim kolegama, najmanje od svih nafuranom agentu iz Odjeljenja za pravdu (Ray Liotta). Nakon sto jedna akcija zavrsi krvoprolicem, ona ce biti unazadjena i poslana u podrum gdje ce istrazivati proslost i sadasnjost Hannibala Lectera, a potom i suspendovana, pod sumnjom prikrivanja dokaza. Jedino sto je moze vratiti u milost FBI bi bilo da ponovo uhvati Lectera, cak i ako to znaci pomoci mu da pobjegne od divljih svinja posebno treniranim da cijene ljudsko meso.

Kad malo razmislite, "Kad jaganjci utihnu" nije strahovito grozan film. Samo je jedna scena eksplicitnog nasilja, kada Lecter bjezi iz svog kaveza. Stoga je vecina umjetnicke vrijednosti filma dosla od suspensa, koji je izdignut na novi nivo igrom macke i misa izmedju Clarice i Hannibala. Nastavak slijedi slicnu logiku, samo na razlicit nacin. Reditelj Ridley Scott koristi predivne lokacije u Firenci u prvom dijelu filma, a u drugom, izuzimajuci posljednjih 15 minuta, ne oslanja se na sokantne prizore uzasa, vec filmu daje ritam trilera, kao sto i treba da bude. Stavise, gotovo nikako ne vidimo Hannibala kako konzumira ljudsko meso, sto je navika koja ga je proslavila. On i Starling se izmjenjuju spasavajuci zivot jedno drugom, ali odluka u posljednjim zajednickim trenucima dozvoljava oboma da ostanu dosljedni svojim likovima, u razrjesenju daleko boljem od onog u knjizi.

A onda, imamo tih posljednjih 15 minuta filma koje su zbilja uznemiravajuce. Bilo bi glupo otkrivati ovdje bitne detalje zapleta, ali je bezbjedno spomenuti da Scott ovdje hoda po tankom ledu. Da je neko poput brace Farelli snimao ovu scenu, bila bi odvratno komicna. Da je neko poput Tarantina dobio taj zadatak, uzas bi prevazisao svaku mjeru. Scottu uspijeva da nas sokira, iznenadi, cak i zabavi, u Lecterovskom iskvarenom smislu, ostajuci vjeran zakonima anatomije, psihologije, toksikologije i pravljenja filmova sa suspensom. Posljednji kadar, zamisljen kao "predavanje stafete" daleko prevazilazi nasilje koje se upravo dogodilo i odvratan je na vrlo razlicit nacin.

In "Lambs", we left Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins) somewhere in the Caribbean, about to "have an old friend for dinner". In "Hannibal", we meet him in Florence, of all places, applying for a curator job in a local library. He replaced "quid pro quo" with "goody goody" and "okey dokey", but, unlike in the book, which is not the only departure from the Thomas Harris follow-up novel, Hannibal still looks the same, and evades the law enforcement efforts by leaving as little as possible usable fingerprints. Once again, Lecter is not the main villain, and the followers of the Lambs cult will even root for the infinitely charming psychopath. Hell hounds are on his trail in the form, so to speak, of his only surviving victim, Mason Verger (a very unrecognizable Gary Oldman). Verger’s long-awaited, richly-sponsored obsession with capturing Hannibal and torturing him in a rather bizarre way gets a break when an Italian cop Francesco Pazzi sniffs around Lecter. Naturally, as we will soon learn, Lecter hasn’t lost a step since breaking out of his Baltimore cage, and before we know it, he’ll be back in the US.

There, Clarice Starling (no longer played by Jodie Foster but rather Julianne Moore, equally capable actress) leads a different life. Ten years after Dr. Lecter made her famous, she is no longer a timid pawn in the hands of those higher in the food chain of the FBI. She shoots to kill, resulting in a bizarre Guinness Book of Records fact that she’s a female agent with the highest number of victims. Clarice still trusts her instincts more than she trusts her colleagues, the least of all a sleazy Justice Department hotshot (Ray Liotta). After a drug raid goes terribly awry, she is demoted to a basement bunker where she researches the past and present of Hannibal Lecter, and then suspended, when she falls under suspicion of withholding evidence. The only thing that can bring her back to FBI’s mercy is catching Lecter again, even if that means helping him out of the pit invaded by wold boars especially trained to appreciate human flesh.

When you think about it, Silence of the Lambs isn’t really a terribly gory movie. There is only one scene of explicit violence, when Lecter gets away from the cage. Therefore, most of its appeal and artistic value came from suspense, which was elevated to another level with the cat-and-mouse game between Clarice and Hannibal. Sequel follows the similar logic, only in a different way. Director Ridley Scott takes full advantage of the exquisite Florence locations in the first part, and in the second part, with the possible exception of final 15 minutes, doesn’t rely on the shock value of horrific images, but rather paces the movie as a thriller it should be. What’s more, Hannibal is almost never seen actually consuming human flesh, a habit that made him what he is. He and Starling take turns saving each other’s lives, but it is the decision in final moments together that allows both of them to stay consistent within their characters, in a resolution far better than the one in the book.

And then, we have the final 15 minutes of the movie, which are truly disturbing. It would be foolish to reveal any plot devices here, but it is safe to mention that Scott walks a fine line here. If someone like the Farelli brothers directed that scene, it would have been grossly comic. If someone like Tarantino got the job, the gore would have gone way over the top. Scott manages to shock you, surprise you, even entertain you in a Lecterly, twisted way, remaining true to laws of anatomy, psychology, toxicology and suspense movie making. The final frame, designed as "passing the torch" by far exceeds the violence that just occurred, and disgusts the viewer in a much different way.