Red Dragon is a stronger film

Manhunter is much better film than Red Dragon. Acting is better, dialogue is better and the suspense buid up is superior in Manhunter. Usually when I hear that someone prefers RD it's usually someone who saw RD first and/or while they were a teenager or young adult. It's similar to young people preferring color and hating black and white, or your favorite James Bond is the one you grew up with. Most times it has nothing to do with how good or bad a film is; just sentimental fondness.

I love Manhunter AND Red Dragon for different reasons. I feel that if you could combine the best parts of both films into one, you would get the perfect film that mimics the book. I like the Red Dragon film script much better, IMO it is much closer to the novel. The acting in Manhunter (especially Will Peterson's Graham, Farina's Jack Crawford) is much more superior than in Red Dragon. The only character's I think are better in Red Dragon to me were the Fienne's Dollarhyde , who I believed was fleshed out better and Hopkin's Lector. The atmosphere, the emotion especially is much greater in Manhunter. So give me the Red Dragon script with RD Dollarhyde, RD Lector with the atmosphere, emotion and the Will Graham, Jack Crawford, Molly of Manhunter and you have the perfect movie. For some of the secondary characters like Freddie Lounds, Dr. Chilton, Reba McClane, etc. eh I guess a toss-up, though I thought Lounds from Manhunter was more of an pain in the neck and antagonizing.

I prefer Red Dragon, but I do like Manhunter as well. Brian Cox and Tom Noonan delivered very good performances, and I also appreciate the fact that the film is different in style compared to the later adaptations.

There are two things that make me like Red Dragon better. The ending, which in the case of Manhunter was kind of disappointing and anticlimactic, and the portrayal of Will Graham. Edward Norton did a good job, but William Petersen's acting was poor, especially during the scenes where he traced the killer's steps and thoughts and eventually got angry and started cursing. It just came out too forced and campy.


http://straycatgraphics.com/

Manhunter is shot more stylishly and feels closer to the novel than Red Dragon. Red Dragon is more faithful in ways but is executed poorly. Edward Norton was horrible when the story is supposed to center around his character.

Both are good films, but Manhunter is the stronger adaptation to me; it is actually suspenseful and creepy at times, while Red Dragon wasnt scary in the slightest.

Enjoyed red dragon more but i also saw it first...so nothing in Manhunter was a surprise.

Manhunter is a far superior film. I own Red Dragon but usually do not watch it during my Hannibal Lecter marathons. I also don't own Hannibal Rising because it's a terrible movie and should be lost.

Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.

I'll agree that Red Dragon had stronger actors...but Manhunter had the better atmosphere & even though they were based of the same source material, it honestly had the better plot. Red Dragon ignored a lot of the brain for gore & it didn't pay off in the end despite the cast.

"Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop."