Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / June 2004

Hi, this is my review of the movie Williard which I submitted to
rec.arts.movies.reviews today.  

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Williard (2003)

Rating : *** out of 5  

actors : Crispin Glover
        R. Lee Emery
        Lots of rats

Williard could be described as a modern day version of the children's
fable "The Pide-Piper".  Its a remake of a 70s movie of the same name.  

Williard (played by Crispin Glover) is a timid middle aged man suffering
loneliness and battles low-self esteem.  He takes care of his sick &
deranged mother while working a dead end job with an abusive boss Frank
Martin (played by R. Lee Emery).  The company Williard works for was
originally built by his father who committed suicide perhaps under
pressure to sell the business to the unscrupulous Frank Martin.  Likewise,
the boss now wants the Williard's family home for real estate development
and puts Williard under enormous pressure to sell it to him.

The movie starts out with Williard setting store-bought rodent traps in
his basement.  In one incident, he finds a white rat scurrying around with
its legs stuck to a sticky rodent trap and decides to spare its life.  He
names the rat "Socrates".  

After a particularly nasty workday, Williard discovers his pide-piper like
abilities while sitting depressed in his basement.  He finds that he is
able to instruct a hoard of rats to do his bidding with simple commands
which they obey.    

Among the army of rodents, Williard discovers a huge, brown rat who he
names Big Ben.  Ben is portrayed as a natural-born leader of rodents yet
finds his authority snubbed by Williard who has a clear preference &
affection for Socrates.  Ben however remains loyal to Williard despite the
lack of respect & recognition he feels he is due.  Together they cause a
little well deserved mayhem for Williard's boss by having the rodents
slash the tires on his new car.    

After a terrible series of events where Williard's mother dies and he is
left saddled with debts.  Williard sinks into a depression and almost
commits suicide just like his father did.  Even more pressure is piled on
him when his evil boss Frank Martin fires him.  His boss makes no secret
of the fact that he wants Williard to sell him his house.  At about this
time when Williard finally caves in and begs for his job, an employee
discovers Socrates scurrying around at the workplace and he is killed
gleefully by the boss Frank Martin.  This is the lowest point in the movie
for Williard and the viewer does feel a great deal of his pain and
suffering.  He is at breaking point.

In revenge, Williard teams up with Ben and takes on his abusive boss who
is torn to pieces by an army of rodents.  It is at this time where
inexplicably, Williard decides to betray Ben and shuns him.  Exactly why
this is so is not clearly explained and to the viewer it seems like an
illogical turn of events.  My best guess is that Williard's mentality has
been corrupted by the events he's had to go through.  In essence, he has
become uncaring and unscrupulous just like his (late) boss.

After building up sympathy for Williard, the viewer has to throw all that
away and switch his/her sympathy to the betrayed rat Ben.  The climax
ends in a battle between Ben and Williard where Ben is injured & killed
while Williard ends up in a mental asylum.    

In my opinion, Williard is a movie worth watching.  It has excellent
acting performance by Glover, Lee and even the rodents.  Its filmed quite
well.  The storyline/script could have been better.  The script writer
clearly aimed to deliver a Hitchcock style unexpected twist at the end.  
However since reasons for the betrayl of Ben are not explained, the viewer
is left a little alienated.  The undercurrent of dark humour is not
fully exploited nor does the movie inject any sense of suspense or horror.
It did however keep me entertained and the actors and set did draw me in.

Its a pity Williard did not do well at the box office but if you are
looking for something different, watch it.Williard (2003)

Rating : *** out of 5  

actors : Crispin Glover
        R. Lee Emery
        Lots of rats

Williard could be described as a modern day version of the children's
fable "The Pide-Piper".  Its a remake of a 70s movie of the same name.  

Williard (played by Crispin Glover) is a timid middle aged man suffering
loneliness and battles low-self esteem.  He takes care of his sick &
deranged mother while working a dead end job with an abusive boss Frank
Martin (played by R. Lee Emery).  The company Williard works for was
originally built by his father who committed suicide perhaps under
pressure to sell the business to the unscrupulous Frank Martin.  Likewise,
the boss now wants the Williard's family home for real estate development
and puts Williard under enormous pressure to sell it to him.

The movie starts out with Williard setting store-bought rodent traps in
his basement.  In one incident, he finds a white rat scurrying around with
its legs stuck to a sticky rodent trap and decides to spare its life.  He
names the rat "Socrates".  

After a particularly nasty workday, Williard discovers his pide-piper like
abilities while sitting depressed in his basement.  He finds that he is
able to instruct a hoard of rats to do his bidding with simple commands
which they obey.    

Among the army of rodents, Williard discovers a huge, brown rat who he
names Big Ben.  Ben is portrayed as a natural-born leader of rodents yet
finds his authority snubbed by Williard who has a clear preference &
affection for Socrates.  Ben however remains loyal to Williard despite the
lack of respect & recognition he feels he is due.  Together they cause a
little well deserved mayhem for Williard's boss by having the rodents
slash the tires on his new car.    

After a terrible series of events where Williard's mother dies and he is
left saddled with debts.  Williard sinks into a depression and almost
commits suicide just like his father did.  Even more pressure is piled on
him when his evil boss Frank Martin fires him.  His boss makes no secret
of the fact that he wants Williard to sell him his house.  At about this
time when Williard finally caves in and begs for his job, an employee
discovers Socrates scurrying around at the workplace and he is killed
gleefully by the boss Frank Martin.  This is the lowest point in the movie
for Williard and the viewer does feel a great deal of his pain and
suffering.  He is at breaking point.

In revenge, Williard teams up with Ben and takes on his abusive boss who
is torn to pieces by an army of rodents.  It is at this time where
inexplicably, Williard decides to betray Ben and shuns him.  Exactly why
this is so is not clearly explained and to the viewer it seems like an
illogical turn of events.  My best guess is that Williard's mentality has
been corrupted by the events he's had to go through.  In essence, he has
become uncaring and unscrupulous just like his (late) boss.

After building up sympathy for Williard, the viewer has to throw all that
away and switch his/her sympathy to the betrayed rat Ben.  The climax
ends in a battle between Ben and Williard where Ben is injured & killed
while Williard ends up in a mental asylum.    

In my opinion, Williard is a movie worth watching.  It has excellent
acting performance by Glover, Lee and even the rodents.  Its filmed quite
well.  The storyline/script could have been better.  The script writer
clearly aimed to deliver a Hitchcock style unexpected twist at the end.  
However since reasons for the betrayl of Ben are not explained, the viewer
is left a little alienated.  The undercurrent of dark humour is not
fully exploited nor does the movie inject any sense of suspense or horror.
It did however keep me entertained and the actors and set did draw me in.

Its a pity Williard did not do well at the box office but if you are
looking for something different, watch it.