09 May, 2006
king of the ants
This is what I thought when I saw it at the rental store: King of the Ants? Sounds like some low-budget horror picture about some Half Man Half Ant who can control hordes of army ants like those in the awesome short story "Leiningen Versus The Ants".
I would probably watch something like that. But that's not what it is about at all.
Trust me. After seeing King of the Ants you will never quite look at Cheers actor George Wendt in quite the same way again.
Let me be clear. This movie is kind of disturbing. It is a modern noir-ish crime/revenge film but oh so much more. You see in King of the Ants there is something involved called "Superb Development of Characters". There is another something called "Good Dialog". And I suppose, if you really want to get down to it, there is something called "Merciless Brutality."
You see, in a lot of movies today, the violence is just a little too cartoonish. Even in movies supposedly about wicked serial killers, the actual serial killing just doesn't seem very...authentic...somehow. And sure, you see people getting beat in the head, but the head beating just doesn't seem as head beat-ish as the kind of thing you see in real life. And afterwards, the hero doesn't seem to have the kind of bumps and bruises you would expect after taking about three dozen roundhouses to the skull.
Not so in King of the Ants.
King of the Ants is like this: There's this guy, the main character, looks to be in his early to mid-twenties, who is kind of adrift in life and working odd jobs in California to get by. I kind of identified with him (maybe it was his great haircut I happen to share--shaved head), and because of this identification I had an investment in the movie and it paid off insofar as making the story really affect me. While painting this house he meets George Wendt, who plays a seemingly innocuous electrician. This electrician, upon seeing how the main character is kind of up for doing pretty much anything for a little cash, invites him to do a little moonlighting doing certain undercover work for a guy he knows. Sound shady? It is.
I don't want to give too much away, since the story is pretty cool. Suffice to say the work he does for the electrician's boss isn't on the up and up and one thing leads to another and then alcohol is imbibed and then some people say things they don't really mean, pretty housewives become involved, and there's a horrible misunderstanding and then bad things happen and eventually really, really bad things happen.
And then things get ugly.
Then you might think things might get better, right? No. Then things get uglier (literally), mayhem ensues, and, well, after that, it's all kind of downhill.
Okay, hopefully I have enticed people with a taste for darker-flavored movies to get your hands on a copy of King of the Ants as soon as possible. And believe me when I say this is possibly the darkest film I have ever, ever seen. And this is coming from a guy who has seen a lot of dark movies. Dark humor, dark bruises, dark story, dark, dark climax...(no Donnie Darko, but oh well)...
Now, the fact that I will give this movie the coveted rating of Godlike may or may not mean I'm a very disturbed individual, insofar as I would take such a shine to this film equivalent of a lump of pure black onyx mined from the uttermost caverns of Hell and possessed by a tortured demon seething with pitch-black evil. To allay fears, it's not that I necessarily agree with what the characters are doing in the film (and in case you haven't figured it out it involves a lot of killing and torturing and maiming and mutilation with varying degrees of heartlessness and efficiency, with heartlessness having a positive correlation with efficiency). But I do agree with the way it was presented. It brings the real horror of violence home and makes you (or it at least made me) feel it in your gut.
That's not to say, however, that fun is not to be had with severed body parts.
Oh, and the star of Office Space, Ron Livingston, has a great scene. It involves a kitchen, and I say no more...
I would probably watch something like that. But that's not what it is about at all.
Trust me. After seeing King of the Ants you will never quite look at Cheers actor George Wendt in quite the same way again.
Let me be clear. This movie is kind of disturbing. It is a modern noir-ish crime/revenge film but oh so much more. You see in King of the Ants there is something involved called "Superb Development of Characters". There is another something called "Good Dialog". And I suppose, if you really want to get down to it, there is something called "Merciless Brutality."
You see, in a lot of movies today, the violence is just a little too cartoonish. Even in movies supposedly about wicked serial killers, the actual serial killing just doesn't seem very...authentic...somehow. And sure, you see people getting beat in the head, but the head beating just doesn't seem as head beat-ish as the kind of thing you see in real life. And afterwards, the hero doesn't seem to have the kind of bumps and bruises you would expect after taking about three dozen roundhouses to the skull.
Not so in King of the Ants.
King of the Ants is like this: There's this guy, the main character, looks to be in his early to mid-twenties, who is kind of adrift in life and working odd jobs in California to get by. I kind of identified with him (maybe it was his great haircut I happen to share--shaved head), and because of this identification I had an investment in the movie and it paid off insofar as making the story really affect me. While painting this house he meets George Wendt, who plays a seemingly innocuous electrician. This electrician, upon seeing how the main character is kind of up for doing pretty much anything for a little cash, invites him to do a little moonlighting doing certain undercover work for a guy he knows. Sound shady? It is.
I don't want to give too much away, since the story is pretty cool. Suffice to say the work he does for the electrician's boss isn't on the up and up and one thing leads to another and then alcohol is imbibed and then some people say things they don't really mean, pretty housewives become involved, and there's a horrible misunderstanding and then bad things happen and eventually really, really bad things happen.
And then things get ugly.
Then you might think things might get better, right? No. Then things get uglier (literally), mayhem ensues, and, well, after that, it's all kind of downhill.
Okay, hopefully I have enticed people with a taste for darker-flavored movies to get your hands on a copy of King of the Ants as soon as possible. And believe me when I say this is possibly the darkest film I have ever, ever seen. And this is coming from a guy who has seen a lot of dark movies. Dark humor, dark bruises, dark story, dark, dark climax...(no Donnie Darko, but oh well)...
Now, the fact that I will give this movie the coveted rating of Godlike may or may not mean I'm a very disturbed individual, insofar as I would take such a shine to this film equivalent of a lump of pure black onyx mined from the uttermost caverns of Hell and possessed by a tortured demon seething with pitch-black evil. To allay fears, it's not that I necessarily agree with what the characters are doing in the film (and in case you haven't figured it out it involves a lot of killing and torturing and maiming and mutilation with varying degrees of heartlessness and efficiency, with heartlessness having a positive correlation with efficiency). But I do agree with the way it was presented. It brings the real horror of violence home and makes you (or it at least made me) feel it in your gut.
That's not to say, however, that fun is not to be had with severed body parts.
Oh, and the star of Office Space, Ron Livingston, has a great scene. It involves a kitchen, and I say no more...
# posted by Arnold : Tuesday, May 09, 2006
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I really liked this movie as well. I am a huge fan of Stuart Gordon who directed the film and of "revenge" type films. A perfect blend of revenge and horror. Great Movie.
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