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- "Animal Factory"
(Reviewed October 6, 2000)
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It turns out that actor Willem Dafoe got double-duty out of shaving his head this year. His bald pate made him look mucho creepy as Nosferatu in "Shadow of the Vampire," and the chrome-dome look turns
him into a believably grade-A badass here. This is a surprisingly low-key story about a longtime convict's relationship with a young casualty of the insane War on Drugs. Directed by actor Steve Buscemi
and based on the book by Edward Bunker (whose novel "No Beast So Fierce" became the Dustin Hoffman movie "Straight Time"), "Animal Factory" is not exactly the feel-good movie of the month. (Don't
expect a sappy-'n'-sentimental "Shawshank Redemption," in other words.) The movie is at its best when it conveys the monotony, degradation and sudden violence inherent in prison life. That takes up the
first 90 percent of the film. The final tenth is given over to a contrivance that is almost insulting, as if the filmmakers could not resist the temptation to throw a little "plot" into the proceedings to jazz things
up.
Edward Furlong is good as the young drug trafficker who gets the book thrown at him, and who adapts a little too well to prison existence. Mickey Rourke disappears so completely into the character of
Furlong's transvestite cellmate that I didn't even know he was the guy behind those false eyelashes until I saw the end credits. The only bad casting decision was hiring Tom Arnold to play a rapist con who
has eyes for Furlong's character. Audience members could be heard slapping their heads and going, "Holy crap, what the heck is no-talent TOM ARNOLD doing in a movie with this many good actors?" Or
maybe that was just me.
Back Row Grade: B
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