Willard (2003)

The movie centers about Crispin Glover a quirky and lone man about thirty years old . He lives with her ill mother and amount of mouses into his home . He has got as enemy to the office chief . Rats will help him to revenge .

The film will have to flee whom don't like the rats because they appear in everyone shots , close-ups , foreground and background of the flick . There are thousand rats and they have been made by animatronics and computer generator specials effects(FX).

Acting by Crispin Glover is excellent , interpreting to Willard as a twisted mind is fantastic , likeness to Norman Bates/Anthony Perkins of Psychosis . R. Lee Ermey as the evil and villain chief is perfect such as his acting in ¨Full metal jacket¨ , Laura Elena Harring (Mulholland drive) is cute .

Direction by Glen Morgan is nicely made , cinematography by Robert MacLachlan is first-rate and Shirley Walker's musical score is gorgeous.

It's a remake to another 1971 film featured by Bruce Davison who only appears in photography as Willard's father into this 2003 film.

Rating 6/10 , average .

Fmovies: Gloriously weird, Crispin Glover's performance seems to boil out of the rage-fueled emotionalism of an era before Botox: think Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, blended with the latter-day fragility and introspection of Sean Penn. This role gives him the room to show off some astonishing gifts.

Glover is the best but far from the only reason to recommend this remake, superior in most ways to the 70s original. (There's some homage along the way, including a tongue-in-cheek set piece done to Michael Jackson's famous warble, "Ben". How time has made that hymn to interspecies love sound creepy!) Writer-director Glen Morgan has crafted a chewy little parable about capitalism, and his sardonic depiction of the real rat race, with a reliably savage Lee Ermey flogging his office employees behind a motivational sign reading "Prudent Aggression," gives the film more than the usual B horror subtext. The production design is sweet, too.

A terribly nice 100 minutes, and one of the best B horrors since Reanimator.

OK, it took me a long time, but better late than never. So, the main reason why most people didn't liked it, because it was not a horror film. So what? If you can understand that it's not a horror, then why don't you watch it wherever you think it is? "Willard" is an absolutely beautiful movie. I couldn't believe how atmospheric it was. I didn't expected much from the movie, esp. I was worried about CGI rats, but I wanted to see it for Crispin Glover. And the moment I've heard the music score I knew it is going to be something special. I don't think that it is weird movie at any point. It was beautiful movie. This is probably the word that describes it best. It may sound stupid, but I know that I have a good taste in movies. *coughs* That's why I can say that "Willard" is definitely one of the best recent movies and I can tell that it is not just personal opinion, it is one of the best movies. If it is a bad movie, then what do you consider a good movie?.. OK, it worked just because of Crispin Glover. He glued everything together. Without him it would be stupid and pointless. But he makes the concept believable. It should of get a few Oscar nomination, that's for sure, but no one surprised that it didn't. The music score was really outstanding, gave it a real feeling, kudos to composer. Definitely deserves an Oscar nom. The production design as well. Superb atmosphere. CGI was great! It was a real surprise and delight to see that CGI is great. Glen Morgan, he did such a great job. He had some small mistakes, but he is way much more superior than today's directors. It still hard to say about his style, because there is a lot of Hitchcock in him, but he did a great job in "Willard" without doubt. Kudos! Now, the acting. What can I say about Crispin Glover? He is a genius! An absolutely amazing genius! The Academy is just an ass, but it is not surprise. But he definitely deserves an Oscar, he owns it, it is THE best performance of 2003! He scared me to death, in good way. He has so much emotion in him, I couldn't believe how amazing his performance is! I have no right words to give him a credit. I'm just speechlessÂ… R. Lee Ermey, I like him a lot. He is one of my favorites too. Such a fun man. Kudos to you, R. Lee Ermey! Jackie BarroughsÂ…creepy! In a good way, she did a great job, she really is! I mean, without her scary mother the movie wouldn't be the same! Laura Harring, I like her too, she was great in "Mullholand Drive". I know some people say that she was completely wasted and they right, but she still was a nice touch. I mean, it is always nice to look at her, she has that good quality about her. I don't know, but maybe she regret that she wasted her time here, but if I could I would say to her, that I think it's better to be a part of this labor of love, than some crappy Hollywood s***. If you watch deleted scenes on DVD it doesn't seem like she is wasted at all. And, the end. I like the new ending better, because it gives you to think about more, the old ending, IMHO, is quite pointless. So, to end the review. It is a masterpiece on its own right. It is an absolutely beautiful movie. So sensitive, so atmospheric, so emotional. My eyes were just glued to the screen. I know that Glen Morgan feels bad about the movie's failure, but he shouldn't, it was not his fault! It IS a great movie! When it ended I hoped that the teenagers will love it (I'm a teenager, myself), because the studio target at them, I hoped tha

Willard fmovies. People who hated this movie went to see it with the preconceived notion that rats would be doing a lot bloodier leg work for Willard. What they got was a movie wherein Crispin Glover kisses his best rattie friend and slowly ambles toward insanity.

Willard has flaws, and plenty of them, but they rarely detract from what is, at heart, a psychological parable and subtle love story. Crispin Glover's performance is one of his most genuinely human and believable, evoking ugly emotions rarely seen in Hollywood, while still retaining a manic kind of dignity.

You can hardly fault New Line for marketing Willard as a horror flick, since that is what would inevitably sell better. But Willard is really more of a movie for people who genuinely like rats, not those who fear them. It's a movie for people who find greater horror in failure and abuse and solitude than buckets of blood and gore. Willard is the kind of movie that aims to make you uncomfortable, but not truly horrified. It uses few of the common elements of the horror movie, including graphic violence, deformity, fear of the unknown, and sudden, unexpected movement or loud noises to propel you from your seat. It is slow moving and subtle, and often uses crude humor to detract from the more creepy moments. It shows itself as a juvenile in those moments, a child who has put on his father's suit and is masquerading as a serious adult. It is much like the character of Willard, in that sense, and the coincidence is almost admirable.

The movie is unquestionably more subtle, evocative, and well-crafted than its predecessor; it is also more faithful to the original novel, Ratman's Notebooks, than the version starring Bruce Davison. It's a dubious honor, some might say.

Willard deserves no prizes, but it is well-made to be what it is... not a horror movie, nor a drama, nor a thriller. It's an intimate little movie about a boy and his rat, and it is all the better for it.

Mr. Culkin should have taken the role that this movie offered him. For an actor who is trying to prove something to the industry in Hollywood, this movie is an excellent example. Crispin Glover has had a reputation in the film industry as a strong, yet weird actor. Many of the roles that he has received makes Crispin look crazy if not odd. Here, Crispin shows his serious and comic side. The movie alone holds up as a gritty thriller. A horror movie none-the-less, Willard is an interesting film that we don't see too often. A well made movie with decent production value, the cast adds to its greatness. Much like River's Edge, the audience is left wondering where Crispin Glover came from. No longer a young actor, Crispin has worked his way up to become a veteran performer and a good actor.

One of the least successful movies of the year, when it should have been one of the most, is Willard, the remake of the Bruce Davison version. It has everything going for it, and it was really the dismal marketing campaign that brought it to its early demise. If more people had given it a chance, then hopefully it would have been more successful and more people would have been able to see this masterwork. That's what Willard is, it's a masterpiece, at least of the movies of the last ten years or so. No movies have been up to par in so many different levels.

Crispin Glover puts in the best acting performance of the year, and possibly one of the best of all time is the title character. He has a dead-end job at his late father's business, now run by his father's partner, Frank Martin (R. Lee Ermey), who just keeps him on until Willard's mother (Jackie Burroughs) dies. When his mother makes him go look for rats, Willard finds one, keeps it, and names it Socrates. He discovers more, and they do whatever Socrates tells him. However, a huge rat named Ben wants control, and fights with Socrates for power, while Willard uses the rats for his own sociopathic will.

As I said earlier, Willard has everything going for it. I'll go one at a time. The directing, by X-Files alum Glen Morgan (also written by him and co-produced with James Wong) was perfect. He has an obvious style (and probably studied Hitchcock in college), and creates a sense of realism in this implausible movie. Also, Morgan's screenplay has some of the best humor to come out of a movie this year, especially from Ermey and Burroughs. I won't spoil them, although they're still funny on repeat viewings.

The acting, especially by Glover, who isn't a forerunner in big Hollywood names, is spectacular. Glover portrayed a young, aimless man so well. No one can scream like this man can. He's not afraid to let go and let his emotions run him over. He must have some deep repressed memories. Ermey is outstanding, but, then again, when is he not? He just plays an evil character, and that's what he's great at. Laura Elena Harring (Mulholland Drive) does what she can with her very small role. I noticed she tried to repress an accent, but I couldn't tell from where. Sounded Spanish, but I digress. Burroughs is great, although more of her (not really looking at her, thoughÂ…she's hideous) would have been great.

Morgan takes what could have been disastrous and turned it around to become a truly creepy film. Willard shows the side of every person who wants to do something evil, but can't find the will to do it. That's where Willard succeeds, you end up rooting for someone you normally wouldn't because he's doing something that you desperately want to do.

Willard is a modern masterpiece, one that will thankfully find a huge audience on DVD.

My rating: 8/10

Rated PG-13 for terror/violence, some sexual content and language.