Edward Guthmann of "San Francisco Chronicle", gave the film a mixed review, saying that "in Hollywood, where integrity is rapidly consumed and careers defined by market value, there's trash and there's trash with a pedigree." Stephanie Zacharek, for Salon, also gave the film a mixed review, stating: "If you buy the overprocessed headcheese of the serial killer as refined genius, you'll love "Red Dragon". Or maybe not. Even Hannibal Lecter devotees may lose patience with this picture's grandiose, self-serious ponderousness—that's Lecterese for, 'It's kind of boring in patches, actually.'" William Arnold of "Seattle Post-Intelligencer," who gave the film a mixed review, said that the film "basically lives up to the old adage that the final work in a trilogy is invariably the weakest." Michael Atkinson of "The Village Voice" gave the film a negative review; he stated: ""Red Dragon"s formula is so risible and rote by now that the natural reaction to scenes of peril, torture, and suffering is flippant laughter."