Review: The Faculty (1998)

Thank God!

Nineteen-ninety eight has been a GOOD year for movies as a whole (especially compared to the OK ’97, and MEDIOCRE ’96.) However, the films of ’98 have done a terrible disservice to one demographic group- my demographic group- teenagers. Yes, we have had Phantoms, Halloween H20, Disturbing Behavior, Urban Legend, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. But were any of those any good? Not in my opinion (if you average their combined ratings from my reviews it equals a lowly 3.6 out of ten). We’ve also had the disappointing teen-angst dramedy Can’t Hardly Wait. Nothing really special there either. Adult readers may be saying "So? No good movies that feature pathetic teen actors spouting insipid dialogue this year! That’s not a big deal at all." Well, I’ll tell you right now that teen movies are very important. High School may not always be that much fun and these movies give people to identify with and learn from, people to laugh at and have fun with, people to get to know and care about. So I am exaggerating am I? Perhaps, but the point is still the same. Teens need these movies, and it really sucks for us if these movies aren’t very good. Well, thank god because here comes The Faculty.

It sounded great on paper… the teaming of overrated scribe of the century KEVIN WILLIAMSON and the wild and crazy, bandanna wearing, guitar playing, Mexican director ROBERT RODRIGUEZ! Hot Damn! I just seem to love every thing these two touch (except for awful Halloween H20, which Williamson drafted) and together they could just rule the world. Add to that a wonderful premise, excellent early buzz and a cast of wonderful actors (both unknown and seasoned) and the Faculty was the can’t miss film of the year.

Like I said- it can’t miss! And it didn’t!

Story wise The Faculty is nothing new. Mix Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with The Thing, with The Breakfast Club, and finally the lyrics from Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" and place it at Harrington High in Ohio. This may seem like an odd combo, or not. Basically, The Faculty is a sponge; it soaks up stories from different movies as diverse as Night of the Living Dead, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Blob, Invaders from Mars, The Puppet Masters, Alien, Scream, and much much more. Pardon me, but I was having way to much fun to really notice. Did I care that this movie wasn’t exactly the most original film in the world? No! It’s a blast! The Faculty chews up all these different movies and comes up with a new one, an awesome one. Originality is always a virtue, but when all a film wants is to have fun with it’s audience, originality is not needed. But, let’s not make it seem like I am saying this movie copies others verbatim. It does get creative in some areas and occasionally wildly inventive with it’s visuals. It also applies the soaked up films with a teen twist that makes them way more accessible to the film’s target audience.

As an aspiring actor of sorts, their is no cast that I rather would have been a part of (except maybe that of Mars Attacks.) These kids look like they are having a lot of fun together. This is an ensemble movie. The teen cast is great. Josh Harnett (H20) is a great actor. He has a really bright future ahead of him. He plays Zeke, a brainy, drug dealing, rebel without a cause. I didn’t think anything of him in that hunk-o-crap H20, but here he really shines. One thing though Josh, COMB YOUR DAMN HAIR! It was even worse here than it was in H20. Then there is Elijah Wood. He is a relative veteran and it shows. He plays Casey, the nerdy Stephen King kid (a phrase used in the movie.) Clea DuVall plays Stokley, an unpopular high-school "outsider". DuVall must have gone to the Fairzura Balk school of acting, but she does a good impression and it fits the part well. Another great find is Shawn Hatosy as Stan the jock. He doesn’t really look much like a jock, but he gives an earnest believable performance. Jordana Brewster kick ass as the snobby bitch Delilah who is perhaps not as bitchy as she thinks she is. There’s also Laura Harris as the sweet lil’ Mary Beth who is new to Harrington High and has a cute Louisiana accent. She gives a nice performance. Then there are the teachers. They are all played by professionals. Bebe Neurith (Miss Drake, principal), John Stewart (Mr. Furlong, the science teacher) and Famke Janssen (Miss Burke, the English teacher) all have a lot of fun with their alien infested roles. Salma Hayek is unfortunately underused as the nurse. T-1000 himself Robert Patrick is at his kick-ass best as the psycho coach. His character supplies the scripts with some hilarious doses of irony.

This is an alien movie and that means effects. The effects are not exactly top-notch, but they get the job done and aren’t too embarrassingly CGI (Lost In Space, Deep Rising). The final confrontation was cool and way bigger than you’d expect.

Director Rodriguez adds his own frantic style to the film and hardly let’s it brake. The script, by Williamson is good. It is fresh and bouncy and includes some great lines ("I’m the head cheerleader and that means I’m supposed to date the star quarterback") and some awful ones ("Would you blow it up Independence Day style?). It does offer some very chilling moments and few great paranoia scenes.

The Faculty is a blast. It is NOT a teen slasher movie but it is a teen movie, and an excellent teen movie it is. It’s fun, exiting, and memorable so if you are under 25 there is no reason you should not see this movie in theaters. It’s a really really cool flick. Just don’t decide from the advertisements. Dimension films has a great film on their hands that can make them a lot of money. True, they did push the film with a $30 million dollar Tommy Hilfiger tie-in campaign but these TV ads really make the movie look like direct-to-video crap. But it’s not! It’s great! It’s fun! It’s hip! It’s The Faculty!

8.5/10