 |
|
|
Willard
Movie Review: The story follows the lonely Willard Stiles (Glover), who is a shy thirty-year-old that has no friends and still lives with his old controlling mother (Burroughs). Willard is haunted by his father's recent death and spends countless moments staring at his painted portrait above the family fireplace. He is terrorized and continuously put down at his job by his aggressive boss, Mr. Martin (Ermey). The Stiles home is also infested with rats, in which Willard develops a friendship with a gentle white rat named Socrates. In the basement, Willard and his new best friend proceed to training thousands of rats to obey Willard's every command. The attention that Willard gives to Socrates begins tension with a huge rat named "Big Ben," which looks more or less like a rabbit or a possum. Ben himself wants the gratitude that Socrates receives; instead of Willard's harshly consist remarks. The film turns into a psychological thriller with Willard being pushed too far, which results in him unleashing his army or rats. The concept of the whole film seems pretty dense or vague, but Willard actually isn't that bad of a film. The strength of the production lies on the character himself and the performance by Crispin Glover. The film lacks thrills, more so B-movie horror moments, which is not necessarily gore, but surprises. However, writer-director Glen Morgan does a good job of rehashing the dark story that also has an ample amount of comedy in it. The whole concept of a lonely man that trains rats to rein terror on his enemies is humorous itself, in my opinion. Morgan's direction is reminiscent of Tim Burton's style, with dark lighting, consist colors and obscure textures. The rats themselves are real throughout most of the film, with only a few sequences having them as computer-generated. Morgan is also precise with his detail, in which each time the rats herd from one place to another, many noticeable rat droppings are everywhere. From what I have read, Morgan's script is pretty close to the original 1971 film version. Willard and his over the top boss, Mr. Martin, are well-constructed characters, but the one supporting character of Cathryn (Harring), lacks depth. Cathryn is a beautiful co-worker of Willard's that finds him to be an innocent and shy soul. There are some lost consistencies with the overall script, especially towards the end of the film. Overall, Morgan does tell the story that he wanted to tell. The character of Willard is also a fine choice for a psychological character study. A lot of the film does ride on the shoulders of Crispin Glover's performance as Willard. He is absolutely creepy in this complex role. Willard is a very troubled person that is looking at the world from the inside out. When his buttons are pushed, Glover's striking eyes and twitchy facial cues expose his feelings or uncertainty. His performance is one of those hidden gems that could very well be argued as award-worthy. R. Lee Ermey's performance as Mr. Martin is a slight reflection of his past work in Full Metal Jacket (1987) as he constantly yells at and degrades Willard. Mulholland Drive (2001)'s Laura Elena Harring doesn't have much to work with, but delivers a contributable supporting performance as Cathryn. Willard is a darkly stylish film that lacks thrills and terrors for it to be an intentional horror movie. The film itself is surprisingly watchable with hidden humor, and mostly because of the great performance by Crispin Glover. Report Card Grade: C+ Site Contents Copyright© The Z Review, unless used with permission.This site has no intention to infringe on the rights of the film owners of Willard and intellectual copyright holders of the movies mentioned herein & hold copyright over the movie, characters, merchandise & storyline. |
|
|
||
|
||
|