Manhunter: Restored Director's Cut

Before William Petersen appeared in Las Vegas's C.S.I., he profiled serial killers for the FBI in this visually handsome and psychologically rattling 1986 film. Petersen's slow burn as Will Graham--who attempts to duplicate in his own head the psyche of a killer who slays entire families and artfully rearranges the bodies--makes for a quietly intense race-against-time flick, in which Will struggles to maintain his own sanity during the countdown to the killer's next rampage. The most electrifying moments, though, come when Will seeks insights from another monster, one he landed in maximum security: Dr. Hannibal Lecter (played here by Brian Cox, with much less screen time than Anthony Hopkins had in The Silence of the Lambs, but with just as much riveting malevolence), who taunts Will because he knows the latter is scarred, emotionally and physically, from their last encounter. Director Michael Mann--whose bright colors and clean lines balance surprisingly well with the dark, cerebral horror of his subject matter--supervised this "definitive" cut and provides audio commentary, and the transfer, via the new "DiViMax" high-def process, is strikingly sharper, crisper, and steadier than the one found on the 2001 two-disc release. The few minutes of restored footage are admittedly of "less than optimum quality," for which Mann himself apologizes, but they are perfectly acceptable and more than made up for by the stunningly beautiful new transfer. Highly recommended. (M. Johanson)