Gaspard Ulliel in 2007’s ‘Hannibal Rising.’

Apparently author Thomas Harris, who usually takes his sweet time developing stories, was coerced into writing this prequel novel by producer Dino De Laurentiis, who was desperate for additional material. Reading the novel, you can tell. It’s written like he has a gun to his head. (Harris also penned the "Hannibal Rising" screenplay.)

Amazingly, the movie is even worse; flat and artless, with an uninspired origin for one of the greatest villains of all time. Gaspard Ulliel plays a young Hannibal, who watches Nazis eat his baby sister (an event depicted far more hauntingly in the "Hannibal" novel) and later tracks them down. For one of the most refined baddies in history, his first outing feels uncomfortably rote and threadbare. (Bafflingly, wraparound scenes with Anthony Hopkins were dropped at the last minute.) The only plus is that it provided additional material for the brilliant television series, which wisely cherry-picked what it needed from the novel/story.