Dr. Lecter practices an extreme form of pilates.

Try to review Red Dragon without comparing it to Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and/or Manhunter. Go on. I dare you.

It can be done, I suppose, but why would you want to when comparisons are so useful? All four movies feature Hannibal Lecter, the most memorable fictional serial killer to come along since Norman Bates cried for his mommy. One, Manhunter, is even the same story, and while it was a fairly effective thriller that version ultimately doesn't work as well for me as this latest installment.

Red Dragon takes place before Silence of the Lambs. It's early scenes show us Lecter before his imprisonment, ridding the world of a bad musician, hosting a formal dinner party and attempting to murder FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) before being shot, arrested and convicted of his gruesome crimes. Years later Graham, who retired from the Bureau after his experience with Lecter, is lured back into service by his former boss to help catch another brutal killer. He, in turn, must seek help from Lecter, the one man who understands deranged minds better than he does.

"Tell JLo I'm ready for our love scene."

So back to those comparisons. Red Dragon is almost as good a movie as Silence of the Lambs and infinitely better than Hannibal. Like Lambs, it explores the uncomfortable bond between criminal and criminologist and the toll it takes on those who must immerse themselves in darkness in order to fight it. Unlike Hannibal, which gave us little besides a series of gory murders, Red Dragon has characters we care about or at least find interesting.

Credit for that goes largely to the source material. Red Dragon was the first Hannibal Lecter novel written by Thomas Harris, and the story feels fresher and more well thought out than his latest effort. Screenwriter Ted Tally, who won an Oscar for his Silence of the Lambs script, has a good ear for dialogue and an only slightly less developed sense for when characters should shut up.

Director Brett Ratner displays an admirable, if somewhat predictable, gothic flair. While he takes few creative chances, he keeps the story moving and crafts a nicely suspenseful mood. If he relies a bit too heavily on the Danny Elfman score, well, who can blame him when it works so well?

"Well, this is an excellent proposal but I'm afraid I'm not in the market for life insurance at the moment."

The trio of key performances each brings something new and compelling to the table. Norton is a more accessible, sympathetic Graham than Manhunter's William Petersen was. You can see the effect of his experiences in his eyes and feel that he's almost too fragile to be put through this again. His scenes with Lecter resonate with barely concealed fear. For his part, Anthony Hopkins gives us a different, more blatantly malevolent Lecter than we're used to. He hates Will Graham and, while he's willing to play some of the mind games he made so famous with Clarice Starling, he's much more menacing. Finally, Ralph Fiennes as the murderous Red Dragon is a sadder, more pitiable and therefore ultimately creepier villain than I was expecting. (I'm not sure I'll ever be able to watch The English Patient again.)

Red Dragon may not break much new ground in the over-worked serial killer genre, but it is a taut, thoughtful thriller and, thankfully, restrained in its depiction of grisly crime scenes. As Hannibal Lecter might say, "Goody goody."

Gorilla Pants rating: 3 out of 4 bananas