The Silence of the Lambs, like
Jurassic Park, is an example of a commercially successful movie that
is structurally flawed. In Jurassic Park, the wonder of the theme
park and the movie's special effects carry the film. Here the unforgettable
and grotesque "evil" of the antagonist, "Hannibal the cannibal," carries
much of the movie - but it also points out what can happen to a story when
the antagonist becomes more interesting than the protagonist.
NotesAt the same time, the film was highly successful in commercial terms, which shows that flawed stories can still be box-office hits if they have something about them that appeals to viewers. And in this case, it's the antagonist, and the brilliant performance by Anthony Hopkins, that carries the film. But the story would be even stronger if the protagonist were not shoved to the back seat for long stretches of the mid-action, and if many of her conflicts came into sharper focus.
SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting