Review Detail

(NOTE: I watched this without reading the Change List, but I've probably seen Red Dragon 30 times, which is why I was more aware of the changes as they popped up.)

Looking at the Change List now that I've watched the movie, there were more than I thought there would be! Very impressive.

THINGS I LOVED:
* Removing the opening helps turn the movie into a story about "Will and Dolarhyde, plus Lecter," so in that sense I like it.
* I also like that it helps mirrors Silence of the Lambs, where Lecter doesn't enter the film until around the 20-25 minute mark.
* Separating the child abuse scenes was a great choice and it kept those lines in the forefront of your mind as the movie progresses.
* Moving/removing the bench press scene to make it part of the Tattler murder was smoothly done.
* Cutting back the "fix your hair, please" comments at the end was perfect. I always felt like it went from cute to like "hey ugly fix your fuckin hair."
* Adding blood to the knockout in the museum was solid, I actually really liked it, it was gruesome.
* The tightened up dialogue around the codebreaking scene really kept the tension those extra 5 seconds, good edit
* Moving the "hiss" jump scare in the "Lecter exercise yard" scene to the beginning of the conversation really made the conversation flow more naturally (but the editing was a bit rough).

THINGS I DIDN'T LOVE:
* Removing the opening doesn't detract but you really need to rely on the credits montage to fill in the story on Will, his scar, his hospital stay, his line "I let him kill me", etc. It works but it's a bit vague.
* The weird supernatural shake while he eats the painting was odd, almost made it seem like the Red Dragon *is* alive, which I didn't like since the movie is clearly not supernatural.
* Why remove the "you owe me awe" line? Sure it's a bit odd but I liked it. Showed how insane he is.
* "Why'd you put mirrors in their eyes?" is one of the dumbest lines in the movie and I wish it had been removed. It only serves to back up the "orbital sockets" line for people who don't know what those are, and it treats the audience as dumb. Likewise I would've cut the "folding Rorschach tests into origami" bit. That never struck me as particularly powerful.

I found the movie had a smoother flow, there was more "evil" spread out through the movie, and more pressure and tension in all the good ways. I only marked down slightly because there were a few parts where I could tell there had been some editing done, but I also understand that it needed to be that way for the changes to fit the soundtrack, dialogue, etc.

Overall this edit succeeds!