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38
12 Rounds Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Animal Factory, The
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MPAA RATING: R for strong language, violence and drug use
Starring Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, Seymour Cassel, Mickey Rourke, Steve Buscemi, and Tom Arnold
Based on the eponymous novel by one-time San Quentin inmate Edward Bunker, Animal Factory portrays the manufacture of a hardened criminal out of the middle-class clay of a newly imprisoned and once promising young man. (Silver Nitrate Releasing)
| GENRE(S): | Drama |
| WRITTEN BY: |
Edward Bunker (also novel)
John Steppling |
| DIRECTED BY: | Steve Buscemi |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 9, 2001 Video: January 9, 2001 Theatrical: October 13, 2000 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 90 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Chad S. gave it a 6:
You haven't lived 'til you've seen Mickey O'Rourke as a transvestite, who looks more like a full-faced Harvey Feinstein than himself. There's also a musical act (a fey singer backed by an accordion and violin) that would be more at home at a small Greenwich Village club than the prison cafeteria. While these are fresh images you can add to the cinematic catalog of penitentary iconography, it doesn't help us forge a bond with Ron (Edward Furlong) because this prison doesn't seem all that scary. Ron is busted for distribution of marijuana, which is an outrage to those who believe that pot is a soft drug, so it would make dramatic sense had he been put through more ordeals to siphon out his good will, and replace this chasm with malice. He does, but Earl (Williem Dafoe) does such a good job of acclimating Ron to prison life, we don't quite buy his transformation from passive naif to hot-head vigilante. Ron's brush with sodomy isn't preceeded by any indication that he's one flashpoint away from protracting his sentence through moral aggravation. This evolution doesn't feel organic, but it's there to set up Earl and Ron's plan to escape from prison...and comparisons to "The Shawshank Redemption".
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