Hannibal - Season 3 [Blu-ray]

I regret to say that the final season of Hannibal is a mediocre one. I simply felt annoyed by the first half which was typically slow, which is fine as the series as a whole has been good at building suspense this way, but the dialogue is just downright silly. I know this is a TV drama and that some suspension of disbelief is necessary to enjoy it, but I just couldn't sit through what felt like a single conversation in the first half of this season without rolling my eyes. I can't really describe it in words, but if you search on YouTube for the parody video of a conversation between Littlefinger and Varys from Game of Thrones, it gives a pretty good approximation of every conversation in this season of Hannibal. It was enough to make me anticipate leaving a 1-or-2 star review, had it not been redeemed by the action.On top of this, it seems that the show must have got a new director or creative lead or something, because they've become very fond of a particular new transition which fades out the background leaving just the actors standing in blackness. Unfortunately, the end result looks like an amateurish attempt at some fancy photoshopping effects; definitely not reflective of the quality of the effects up until this point -- this is a minor gripe though.When the season actually starts picking up the pace, the action is as good and unsettling as it has been so far, with parts that genuinely twisted my stomach. The final few episodes take an interesting turn in the story which I enjoyed, but my girlfriend didn't, so it seems to be a matter of taste.The character development is still fairly good, as it has always been an important part of the show as a whole. Events at the end of the second season are reflected in the characters well, some of which I didn't like at first but slowly grew on me across the season. Unfortunately though, the main character interaction between Will and Hannibal just felt like too much effort given the tedious dialogue I've mentioned previously, which is made even more tedious by the frankly ridiculous decisions made by almost all of the characters in the show. Perhaps I am missing the point, and this goes back to my point about suspension of disbelief earlier in the review, but I simply cannot imagine trained, supposedly intelligent, professionals making even half of the decisions (or lack thereof), that they do in this show.If you felt that towards the end of the second season the quality of the show was declining, as I did, then perhaps don't go into this season expecting too much. If you've enjoyed the show thoroughly up until this point however, and can endure or enjoy the silly dialogues, then the entertainment value is definitely worth the price.If you've found this review helpful in any way then please let me know by clicking the thumbs up. Likewise if you felt it could do with some improvement then click the thumbs down.

This season of Hannibal is not as good as the others, thus far.I have watched about 4 episodes in the last 2 weeks, however the first two series was watched in a weekend.Initially the first two episodes relied heavily on sound effects and music which were too loud, in so far as we had to change the volume constantly because the spoken word was too quite when the sound effects/music were at the right height.These sounds also seemed psychologically disjointed with the imagery and the portrayed emotional content.So far the series has diverted from the red dragon book considerably and I look forward to seeing how the plot will be returned to that in the book.

Sadly as a fan of the Hannibal series 1 and 2 this 3rd series was a disappointment. It just had a feeling of a final lets get everything covered before we go home. Later I find out that the series got cancelled and you can clearly see why and how it impacted season 3.Season 3 is in effect 2 in 1 with the first part based on the book Hannibal and the 2nd part based on the book red dragon, yet in my view don't favour well to the films. Reading some of the reviews I find myself agreeing with many of the 3 star reviews here.The first 7 episodes were dark - as in you will want to turn up the brightness on your TV, loud as in terms of the background music, muddled, and directionless ( with the obvious exception that they follow the outline of the book's story). All but 1 character from series 2 blood bath come back alive, bit ludicrous considering the ending in season 2. Where they deviated from the book and padded with sub plots they were often weak and to be honest in my view boring, I lost interest. If I was watching it free to air I would of not bothered continuing after episode 4.The 2nd part of the season 3 is their take on the book red dragon, and the series picks up a little and leads to finale that wraps up the series. Largely it works as the story is stronger and more able to be stretched over multiple episodes than "Hannibal". Where the first 7 episodes failed for me in terms of lighting, sound, arty scenes, character re writes, pointless diversions the last episodes returns somewhat to standard form and its the stronger for it.

Why oh why did the producers let the director and cinematographer make such a mess of season 3? It's poorly lit, full of weird and pointless slow motion and endless out of focus shots. No doubt they think it's atmospheric and artistic but it just gives the impression that the camera crew don't know how to focus the lens and the lighting technician ran out out of bright enough bulbs. I could do better with my iPhone.That said I've given it two stars instead of one because Mads Mikkelsen is still worth watching and Joe Anderson does a wicked recreation of Gary Oldman's Mason Verger. They go some way to compensating for Hugh Dancy's miserable take on Will Graham which had also blotted the otherwise excellent seasons one and two. I don't know if Dancy opened a copy of Red Dragon before he joined the cast, but he gets nowhere near the damaged, uncertain but very likeable character that Harris created. All I want to do with Dancy's Will Graham is kick him up the backside and tell him to get a grip.