THE RATS is yet another monster flick detailing a rodent menace, following on from the likes of DEADLY EYES, the two WILLARDs, and plenty more movies made over the years. This has little to recommend it other than an interesting premise that at least has a halfway decent reason for the rat invasion which is taking place in an unfortunate borough of New York City.
What I was pleased about is that THE RATS avoids dodgy CGI for the most part, although it is here in places (that ridiculous climax has to be seen to be believed, for example). There are plenty of genuinely furry critters in sight, although as ever these hold no fear for me; I find them pretty cute in fact.
The weakest part of the production lies in the characterisation, which is non existent and presents stereotypes instead of real people throughout. There's the good-looking hero, the good-looking woman caught up at the centre of the chaos, her imperilled daughter, the boss who refuses to believe there's a problem, the incredulous police force. What follows is entirely predictable, with a little gore here and there to try to keep viewers interested. It's not very good, let's leave it at that.
What I was pleased about is that THE RATS avoids dodgy CGI for the most part, although it is here in places (that ridiculous climax has to be seen to be believed, for example). There are plenty of genuinely furry critters in sight, although as ever these hold no fear for me; I find them pretty cute in fact.
The weakest part of the production lies in the characterisation, which is non existent and presents stereotypes instead of real people throughout. There's the good-looking hero, the good-looking woman caught up at the centre of the chaos, her imperilled daughter, the boss who refuses to believe there's a problem, the incredulous police force. What follows is entirely predictable, with a little gore here and there to try to keep viewers interested. It's not very good, let's leave it at that.