Hannibal Lecter

Sage and I have recently gone on a Hannibal Lecter binge. I'm aware this is strange--but I don't care.  Anyways, we watched Hannibal Rising the other night and to be honest, it was a complete let down.

The movie relied solely on gore and guts and the success of Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon, and Hannibal has nothing to do with gore and guts--it has to do with the character of Hannibal itself.  The alluring and frightening personality of Hannibal Lecter is what makes it great-not the blood.  Also Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon are well written and carried out--Ralph Fiennes and Anthony Hopkins are superb.  Hannibal in Hannibal Rising is...well...boring.  He is predictable and has no personality (obviously this was not Anthony Hopkins being that it's supposed to be the story of the younger Hannibal).  He slowly becomes a serial killer and predictably hunts down his enemies and kills them in gruesome ways...just like almost every other serial killer movie.

BUT that's not the real reason I hated the movie.
Let's give some background.
Here is the chronological order of the movies (not the order they were released):
Hannibal Rising (how Hannibal becomes a serial killer)
Red Dragon (Hannibal is caught and put in prison)
Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal still in prison and then escapes)
Hannibal (I have yet to see this movie...)

Now here's the big plot hole in Hannibal Rising that has me all fussy.  Hannibal Lecter kills many people and it's known that he is the killer and that he's eating parts of his victims.  At the end he fakes his death and then goes to Canada to continue killing.  So...according to Hannibal Rising, Hannibal Lecter is a dead, cannibalistic, serial killer by the end of the movie.

We learn in the other movies that Hannibal was a world renowned psychologist and often helps out the FBI to profile criminals before he was caught (even after he was caught he was still used a source for profiling).

Now tell me friends...how does a man who is supposed to be dead and a serial killer successfully become a world renowned psychologist and friend to the FBI without changing his came?  Last I checked Hannibal Lecter is not a common enough to name to keep without being noticed.

And that is why Hannibal Rising was a let down.  Ahhh....now that I've ranted and gotten that I off my chest...