It’s always difficult for me to write anything about films which have already received immense praise from countless better writers than I, so I’ll be brief: this film is practically perfect. I love it to death. One significant thing about it is that, while it is clearly a Hollywood entertainment film, it unusually has no clear place in the genre system. It’s kind of a detective drama, kind of a psychological drama/thriller, kind of a horror film, and kind of a comedy. Maybe it’s all of them, and if it is, that’s a tough balance to achieve. While this may not be my favorite Jodie Foster performance, Hopkins makes up for this in spades, and his character clearly shaped many later works of media which I love. It’s not quite in my top 20 favorite films – maybe it’s just not a very “J. D. Hansel” kind of movie – but I approve of its status as one of the best films of all time without any reservations.
