Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter

Based on Thomas Harris's literary trilogy, Red Dragon is as polished as Silence of the Lambs and thankfully less campy than Hannibal, the most recent and least digestible of the series, which despite its half-baked shortcomings still earned a tasty $350 million. Red Dragon also clearly outdoes Manhunter, its 1986 screen adaptation.

So with oodles of loot waiting to be made, the diabolical doctor is back from the past and ready to turn up the gas. Set ten years before Silence of the Lambs made him the world's most gruesome gourmet, Red Dragon wheels out aging-but-still-agile Anthony Hopkins for a third spin as Hannibal Lecter, a refined FBI forensics psychiatrist and patron of the arts, both culinary and otherwise. Early on, it's discovered that he is the very "Chesapeake Ripper" whom he is allegedly helping the Bureau to capture. After attempting to gut his associate on the Ripper case (Will Graham played by Ed "Fight Club" Norton) as if he were the catch of the day, Lecter is convicted of the Chesapeake murders and locked away for life. Actually, it's for nine consecutive life sentences, but after the first one, who's counting?

Soon, however, Hannibal's expertise on the mental machinations of the criminally insane are again called upon by Graham, the same cracker whose heart Hannibal tried to transplant onto a dinner plate just a few years earlier. Graham has been enticed out of retirement by his old partner Jack Crawford (Harvey "Bad Lieutenant" Keitel) and asked to assist on a new set of multiple murders, this one by a guy dubbed the Tooth Fairy (Ralph "The English Patient" Fiennes). The Tooth Fairy is a night-calling nut job and avid Lecter appreciator. Two seemingly random families have been killed in their sleep already, one during each full moon. Now, it's up to Graham to decipher Lecter's cryptic clues, crack the case before the next bad moon rises, and hopefully not end up on the skewer of another craven carnivore in the process.

Though Red Dragon's plot is essentially unchanged from its Manhunter edition, what makes this year's model special is its all-star cast, each performing at the top of his game. Hopkins is exquisitely evil playing Hannibal, the part he's most known for of his 100-film career. Norton and Fiennes are as capable a cat-and-mouse team as you're likely to find outside of the Simpson's Itchy and Scratchy. Keitel is crabby as always and thank God keeps his pants on this time. Lastly, special mention is due Emily "Hillary and Jackie" Watson as Reba McClane, a blind woman who befriends and even beds the Tooth Fairy. She sees only his tortured inner soul and not the teeth, belongings, and other sacrificial souvenirs of his victims that are lying around his home, a joint so eerie it makes the Psycho house look like the ol' Brady Bunch place.

So, if you've got the iron stomach, the steel nerves, and the Teflon attitude for this type of thing, Red Dragon is bound to slay you. And if gross receipts live up to their prognosis, don't be surprised if Hopkin's Dr. Lecter makes the rounds again in a couple years. Seems no matter how long in the tooth Hannibal gets, he's still got a hell of a bite.