This entry is about the 2002 film. For other entries with similar names, see Red dragon.

Red Dragon is a 2002 thriller film, based on the novel of the same name written by Thomas Harris and featuring psychiatrist and serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The film was directed by Brett Ratner and written by Ted Tally, who also wrote the screenplay for The Silence of the Lambs; it stars Edward Norton as FBI agent Will Graham and Anthony Hopkins as Lecter — a role he had, by then, played twice before in The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal.

Red Dragon is, in publishing chronology, the first story in the Lecter saga (Hannibal Rising, a later-published origin story, was released in 2007). Red Dragons story takes place before the events in The Silence of the Lambs, and after Lecter's original capture and incarceration. While Lecter plays a central role, Red Dragon focuses more on the characters of Will Graham and the tortured serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde.

Plot

In his Baltimore townhouse, famous local psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter hosts a dinner party. The main subject of conversation over dinner is the disappearance of a local musician who was criticized for playing several wrong notes at a concert that Lecter attended. He then serves the guests a delicious meal. When asked what the meat was that he served he says 'If I tell you, I'm afraid you won't even try it.'