MovieChat Forums > The Skulls (2000) Discussion > Will Beckford

Will Beckford

posted 20 years ago by treblebeats
8 replies | jump to latest

Just watched this movie on late night t.v. was pretty poor to be fair. Secret organisations are always such a nice topic but as a previous poster said the story was uninspired.

Anyway, the point i wanted to make was that I did not like Will Beckford because he was a complete tool, thusly I could not care less about his death and neither should have 'Luke'. I felt that the whole film was just blowing every minor thing up into some massive deal 'I lied to you then Luke but now your lying to me now *SOB SOB*', that was the only drive any of this film had and there was absolutely no motive for the murder absolutely none, 'Oh boohoo you've made friends Luke therefore I hate you'. This film sucked!!!!

Sorry thought I'd voice that.

[–] beckier2004 20 years ago

Thats gotta be the best description of will beckford, "a complete tool." I love it. And totally agree, it made the whole plot weak because no one watching cares that the guy was killed. I really didn't understand why he fell out with luke in the first place?! But Joshua Jackson made it all worth watching

[–] PotassiumMan 20 years ago

The character Will Beckford is a self-promoting student journalist who sees virtually nothing wrong with disrespecting the traditions of a long-standing staple of the school's prominence- it's exclusive society. He doesn't care that the secret society of a prominent university might be secret for reasons other than being merely elitist. The movie completely gives this character a free pass on how he approaches things, and tacitly embraces his point of view.

If nothing else, it can be argued that Will childishly begrudges Luke for his good fortune in being recruited by the Skulls. Instead of being a good-natured friend who is happy when his buddy gets this kind of opportunity, Will decides to play the class warrior and spout his anti-preppie rage at his friend. He has an agenda through and through.

The central problem with this movie is that the victim of the act of treachery is unsympathetic.

[–] TheEarman 19 years ago

I couldn't agree more with the above posts. I thought Will Beckford was a whiney little snitch, who deserved what he got. I had the same problem with the original "Karate Kid". I thought Daniel LaRusso was a geek and I found myself laughing as the Cobra Kai guys beat his ass over and over. Come on, he was a poor loser who rode a lousy bike to school and the Cobra Kai guys had motorcycles.

[–] jccitizen001 19 years ago

Lol, I thought I was the only person who felt that way about the Karate Kid. I mean how lame are you to have to have a 60 year old Japa... I mean Okinawan man to come to your rescue every time your getting beat up by some teenager also who cares if you can win a karate trophy if you‘re getting your face kicked in every time you get in a street fight? Remember part 3? That guy beat you up in front of your girlfriend he kicked you in the nuts like three times and you think you won because you gave him a love tap to his chest? Ah, I digress I keep saying this on posts Will didn’t care about Luke he was doing a story and he wanted Luke to give him information. If Luke would’ve been like “oh yea man they put us in coffins and then made us steal this other organizations symbol” Will would’ve been happy and writing it down. Morality had nothing to do with it. Will was a jerk who got dropped on his head for being nosey.

[–] blueseas 19 years ago

To respond to the earlier posts, I felt that the real reason that Will was mad at Luke for joining the Skulls was because it immediately introduced secrets in their friendships, thereby breaking their implicit trust in one another. Already, by keeping secrets about the society from Will, Luke was implying that he would choose the Skulls over Will. As they say in the movie, "Skulls above all others" or something to that effect. So I felt that Will was justified in how he felt. If they had had more time, I think he would have come to some terms with the situation, but he was killed pretty quickly afterwards so no reconciliation was possible.

Also, I feel like Will started out on his story about the Skulls after they talked about it in the bar after their crew win. Luke was saying that he didn't care about the organization, as long as they paid the bills. I think that sparked the journalistic interest in Will, as well as his interest in protecting his friend. I felt that although a lot of his intention in finding out about the Skulls was due to his journalistic ambition and curiosity, some underlying cause was to find out the truth so that he could protect Luke. I doubt that he ever realized how serious the situation would actually be. It is basic human nature to be curious and if someone tells me that I am not supposed to know something, that fuels my desire to know that secret even more. I don't really think about the consequences when I am trying to find the truth, nor do I really believe that the consequences would be so drastic and serious. For that reason, I don't really agree with the rest of you when you say that Will was selfish, a jerk and whatever else.

[–] Kelea7 12 years ago

To respond to the earlier posts, I felt that the real reason that Will was mad at Luke for joining the Skulls was because it immediately introduced secrets in their friendships, thereby breaking their implicit trust in one another. Already, by keeping secrets about the society from Will, Luke was implying that he would choose the Skulls over Will. As they say in the movie, "Skulls above all others" or something to that effect. So I felt that Will was justified in how he felt. If they had had more time, I think he would have come to some terms with the situation, but he was killed pretty quickly afterwards so no reconciliation was possible.

Also, I feel like Will started out on his story about the Skulls after they talked about it in the bar after their crew win. Luke was saying that he didn't care about the organization, as long as they paid the bills. I think that sparked the journalistic interest in Will, as well as his interest in protecting his friend. I felt that although a lot of his intention in finding out about the Skulls was due to his journalistic ambition and curiosity, some underlying cause was to find out the truth so that he could protect Luke. I doubt that he ever realized how serious the situation would actually be. It is basic human nature to be curious and if someone tells me that I am not supposed to know something, that fuels my desire to know that secret even more. I don't really think about the consequences when I am trying to find the truth, nor do I really believe that the consequences would be so drastic and serious. For that reason, I don't really agree with the rest of you when you say that Will was selfish, a jerk and whatever else.

That's actually how I saw it. Years late but this is one of the only posts on this topic that I completely agree with and expressed much better than what I can do right now.

Rest in Peace Russell Means...your legacy and impact will live on.

[–] Stratego (31082) 6 years ago

That's actually how I saw it. Years late but this is one of the only posts on this topic that I completely agree with and expressed much better than what I can do right now.

Actually, it's total bullshit. Will was already keeping secrets from Luke about his research into the Skulls. The guy was gone for just one night, he didn't even know if he was in and he had every right to keep other friends and not share every single thing with him. Will acted like an immature brat with a big crush on his best friend.

[–] genevaporter 11 years ago

I agree. He didn't deserve to be murdered like that, but he was a jerk: first cutting off his friendship with Luke for being inducted into the Skulls, and then breaking into Caleb Mandrake's car and stealing his belongings and somehow being surprised that Mandrake was peeved about it.

I can understand that he might have been frustrated that The Skulls members had an easier time of making a living than he did. I can understand that it must have been tempting to take an offer from the papers to investigate The Skulls, but his "ends justify the means" approach was pure selfishness. He was using Luke's connection to The Skulls to probe the secrets of an unwilling party , and if the article had been written, it could have caused serious consequences for Luke and Caleb, as they would shoulder the blame for the expose. That could have seriously wrecked both of their futures, at least made them a target for outrageous lawsuits, if not more unscrupulous deeds.. He was out to get what he wanted, and his reckless way of trying to get it screamed of hypocrisy.

Again, didn't deserve to be murdered, but not a good friend. He broke rule number one of not being an a-hole: don't play with other people's lives.