Whoever produced this hasn't got a clue what they're doing.

What was the main attraction that made The Silence of the Lambs so successful? Why was that film so good? Because really it could have been just your average thriller. Look at Manhunter. Who ever saw that as anything but average? Michael Mann did a very good job but...

The Silence of the Lambs was something else. It was the chemistry between middle-aged Anthony Hopkins and Clarice Starling. They were on opposite ends of a legal spectrum and yet...there was an undeniable chemistry. He loved her, as far as psychopaths can love, we know that by that tender stroke of the finger. And she...respected him as one would and should respect a man-eater.

What made Anthony Hopkins' Dr Lecter so likeable? He was charming, yes and he was intelligent. But why did we love this psychopath so much that we kept on coming for more? What did we get in the Silence of the Lambs that we did not get in any of the sequels INCLUDING this series?

It was that surprise, wasn't it? The surprise you got when you first saw that film and realised that this wasn't just an average serial killer film. The surprise you got when you realised that this was, in actual fact, a kind of love story. A forbidden love story but a life story nonetheless.

The Silence of the Lambs, gruesome as it was, was never really about the murders - that was just the backdrop - what it really was about was that relationship, wasn't it? That relationship between the ageing psychopath who seemed to have it all figured out and the little fledgling Starling who so wanted to know, to get ahead...all the way to the F. B. I...

Dr Lecter was a monster. But in a world of monsters who lie to our faces, Lecter was a refreshing monster. He was at least honest about his monstrosity whereas the other monsters walking the streets had not the decency to admit to it. Lecter looked after our little Starling. And for that he was our hero.

There's none of that in Hannibal the movie, Red Dragon, Manhunter, or this. Mads Mikkelsen was fabulous as Le Chifre but he is NOT the Dr Lecter I know. Sorry. He has not the twinkle in his eye. Did the producers even watch The Silence of the Lambs?