Willard is simply pathetic, or so his mother tells him on a daily basis. "Maybe you'd have found a girlfriend if you had a more 'handsome' name like Mark" she advises him. Her negativity is only one of many factors that has reduced him to the meek shell of a man he is. His evenings are spent caring for his sick (in every way) mother in a house infested with disgusting rats. No relief can be found at his day job, where his self esteem is further pummeled by his ogre of a boss, whom you may remember as that awful, awful man from the new Chainsaw movie, R. Lee Ermy. Mr. Martin goes out of his way to belittle Willard, and reminds him that the only reason he still has a job is out of respect for his deceased father, who helped start the company.
Willard manages to find friends in the only available place - his nasty basement. He notices an abnormal intelligence in his rats and begins to form a powerful bond with them, two in particular. There is the leader Socrates (named for his brainpower), and Big Ben. Like the clock, Ben is unusually friggin' enormous. Remarkably, the rats are able to understand and obey his wishes, granting him a rare advantage in life. Willard uses his newly acquired power to exact revenge on both his enemies and anyone else who threatens his “friends”.
Forget Marty McFly, Willard is the role Crispin Glover was born to play. He completely embodies a sense of powerlessness and self-loathing that most people fall victim to at times.
I know I'm not the only one who finds rats to be the most despicable form of life on the planet. They truly are wretched, disease-infested creatures of squalor. This is actually an invaluable asset to the movie. The viewer is overjoyed to see Willard grow a spine but can’t help but feel revolted by the means in which he attains it.
Special effects wise, there are some noticeable CGI moments but overall it’s pretty damn effective.
3 comments:
I love seeing Crispin Glover get work, he's the king freaky actor of our generation.
His mom's a bitch for criticizing his name. Isn't that her fault?
And don't you think, instead of using rats to get what he wants, he should've called the military about the problem?
Kidding. I haven't even seen this movie. Glad it's good.
CORRECTIONS!!!
1) You mean to say GEORGE McFly is the role Crispin Glover was (not) born to play.
2) It's R. Lee Ermey, and you have to give the man his due. Ermey was a real-life U.S. Marine drill-sergeant instructor at Parris Island who was hired by Stanley Kubrick to help assemble the training material for the opening sequences in Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick, not being totally nonsentient, quickly realized that it was silly to hire an actor to produce an imperfect and theatrical imitation of Ermey's style when he could just use the real thing. So, Ermey's 100% real Marine training regimen dominates the first, searing twenty-five minutes of the movie. Later, Ermey went on to play roles in movies like Fincher's Se7en as Morgan Freeman's and Brad Pitt's commanding officer on the police force in whatever nameless 'every-city" that movie's supposed to take place in -- you know, the city where it's always raining heavily even though the sun's out (rain towers everywhere) and it looks like God himself has turned the "dimmer switch" on the universe down to that low setting where you can hear the whole room humming.
Jordan - thanks for setting the record straight, both points, every sentence! I have always feared Mr. Ermey, but now I respect him too!
Octopunk - calling the military would not be recommended in Willard's particular situation. Though he had some personal issues to overcome, it was not be in his best interest to ...
* more bickering to follow
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