Crispin Glover is a wierd friggin' guy. I would love to meet him. That being said, WILLARD is the perfect vehicle for Glover to show all of us just how freakishly good of an actor he is. At times, his performance is heartfelt, and at the same time, it is revolting. Such is the case for one particular scene at a funeral, in which Glover lets everything out. WIllard is a story of lonliness, a story of a broken man who finds confort in the most unlikely of places, the rats that have been pestering him for some time now.
It all begins when Willard catches one white rat in a fly-paper trap. He is about to dispose of the vermin, when he decides to free the little rodent instead. He names it Socrates, for its intelligence, and sets it free amongst the other rats in the basement. Not soon after, Socrates return with many of his brethren, including a huge, cat-sized rat that Willard calls Big Ben. WIllard soon begins to act as their master and begins training them in every area possible, including tearing, biting and clawing whatever he so desires.
But Willard's life is no happy story. His mother treats him as if he were inferior, and his boss at work verbally abuses him day in and day out. Just before Willard's father died, he left the company to Frank Martin (R. Lee Ermey), making him swear that as long as Willard's mother were alive, Willard would still have a job at the company. Well, Frank figures that since he can't fire Willard, he can do as much as it takes to get him to quit, thus making his life a living hell. He humiliates Willard in front of his coworkers, and docks him a weeks pay for no reason. Frank is a selfish, evil man.
When Frank begins bragging about his new Mercades, WIllard decides to act on his emotions. He gathers the rats together, and heads over to Franks house, where he gets the rats to chew throgh the garage door and rip the tires of the Mercedes to shreds. Willard has a small victory, but it is soon followed up by one tradgey after another, witch eventually pushes Willard over the edge.
Willard is a wonderful little thriller with some ups and downs. By no means is it a great movie, but it is an entertaining one. You could do much worse than choosing WILLARD at the multiplex. P.S. Stay tuned during the credits to hear Glover belt out the theme song, "Ben", originally sung by Michael Jackson. |
