Rats

I really liked this new film by Morgan Spurlock. Personally I feel the whole horror-aspect (and the fact that some people seem to take offense to it)is a little overblown. For me the filmmakers created just the right amount of tension to tell a fascinating story about creatures that secretly live among us. They - the rats - are like us in many ways. Their way of living mirrors our own societies in many ways. And as we are told they will probably outlast us. Personally I saw the humans in this film as the bad guys. The film makes this pretty clear I think. All in all a very enjoyable film that will make me think twice about going out to diner.

The cinematography is great. Lots of interesting footage, always something to be watching. But don't be mislead into thinking you're actually going to learn something about rats besides fear mongering we've all heard before. Seriously, they lay on the "mood" HARD. Constant droning and thumping horror movie music playing throughout, stock rat noises playing whenever there's one on screen, flashing still images of a rat's open mouth and "attacking" you. That sort of thing.

I love rats, but that's not why I dislike this movie. I'm not illusioned to the reality of them and I was really looking forward to viewing this documentary. I was hoping for a movie going through the history of rats and the relationships we've had with them as humans, the history of disease, as pets, their biology. I guess overall, I was hoping for something with substance and would leave me with new and interesting information on these largely misunderstood animals. Instead you get a movie that is exactly the opposite of that: encouraging fears and assumptions.

I'm not saying don't be careful of wild rats, but adding a horror score and "shock stills" is completely unnecessary and juvenile. Imagine doing this about say, a documentary about great white sharks or wolves. This helps nothing and only encourages us to be afraid.

I wouldn't mind a rat horror flick, but don't dress it up as substance.

So, this just popped up on Netflix, I was pretty excited thinking this was the Rat film I had been waiting for by the same people who did Black Fish. If you haven't seen Black Fish please do! Now, this film was not the one I had been waiting for at all. Made by Discovery channel I thought it would still be insightful about the animal, instead it's a film glorifying the fear of an animal that already has a horrid reputation in the world. They made the rat into nothing short of a Hollywood monster that's the reason for all the bad in the world. It's plainly disgusting. A simple ploy to make more people afraid of the small mammal and seek out to kill more of them. Discovery channel has turned into nothing short of fear mongering bully.

this movie was horrific and vulgar!!!! to torture any animal and find it entertaining is inhumane and what is wrong with this planet!!! and to group domesticated, pet rats in the same category is just wrong! it teaches people to hate ALL rats regardless!!! this movie should be banned!!!! In one scene of this movie the scientists were talking about poison resistance with the rats and actually had the nerve to show pet rats not wild ones!!!! there is a huge difference! and people that sick dogs on the poor animals so they can rip them apart is absolutely appalling!! and then the scene where these idiots get paid to go out and kill rats and bash their heads in while the animal is screaming is beyond inhumane!!! this movie was uncalled for and really taught little except intolerance of living, breathing creatures!!

The documentary "Rats" would be excellent if not for its creators' mania for manipulative music and sound effects of horror films. They are out of place in a work with scientific pretensions. The images and information provided by this production of Discovery Channel are already powerful as to dispense with that unnecessary sonic frippery. The research made in different places of the United States, India, Cambodia and the United Kingdom leads to eloquent and sometimes overwhelming sequences that show how the plague is assumed in the world, from extermination with poisons to worship of the rats as sacred beings, passing through the consumption of the rodents as tasty gourmet dishes and their dog-like hunt as if they were foxes. In the last sequence what struck me was that Indian rats revered in a temple were thin and vegetarian-looking... But in spite of the foreign elements added to the sound track it is a good work that deserves to be seen. Recommended.