The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  7 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: The main thing to note about this legendary thriller is the outstanding performances and characterisation, as this incredible cast and a great script bring all the madness to life to such an exciting degree. This allows you to delve into the minds of the villains far more intricately than otherwise, which only makes the ending all the more brilliant and terrifying.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Unfortunately, it's just not remotely subtle enough. Indeed tension and theme should be played out delicately in a film like this, but here - perhaps unsurprisingly - Jonathan Demme slaps it all around your face with constant levels of tension and grit that are only increased from eleven to twelve as the film proceeds. This means some of the more sensitive and frightening aspects of many pschological thrillers are gone in place of a more hammered-home approach that leaves it feeling overlong and thematically uninteresting.
  VERDICT: A thriller that exceeds in terms of characterisation but fails when it comes to building delicate tension; 'Silence of the Lambs' is a classic that doesn't always live up to its status.

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