DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Thora Birch as LIZ Desmond Harrington as MIKE Daniel Brocklebank as MARTIN Laurence Fox as GEOFF Kiera Knightly as FRANKIE Embeth Davidtz as DR. PHILIPPA HORWOOD Rated R Studio: Dimension Directed by: Nick Hamm Back to DVD Review Home |
 |
There’s a piece of conventional wisdom that says a novelist’s second book is never as good as his first big hit. The reason for this is that while preparing to publish his first book, he’s under the gun of the publisher, editor and eventually the readership to put out something of quality. After all, he’s an unknown.
But once that first book becomes a hit, he now has the power of “a Name” behind him. Now, he doesn’t have anything to prove. And because writing books is tough work, it’s not uncommon for an author to resurrect an old unpublished piece and retread it for his second novel.
I think a similar thing happened with director Nick Hamm. The name “Nick Hamm” really isn’t a Name yet in the industry. He’s done a body of work, but his first really big American release was last year’s “Godsend.” Heck, it starred DeNiro, for crying out loud. The only problem was that “Godsend” really kinda sucked.
I wouldn’t be surprised if “Godsend” was a story that had been floating around his brain long before he did films like “The Hole.” It had the feeling of a second novel. But a movie like “The Hole” was totally different. It was eerie, sensual and unique. It was everything “Godsend” was not. And it didn’t even have DeNiro. (Although “The Hole” does have a 16-year-old Kiera Knightly flashing her breasts, which makes up for a lot.)
“The Hole” is hard to describe without giving the story away. The underlying plot is about a group of teens from a high-class prep school in the U.K. who disappeared for several weeks. One of the girls named Liz (Thora Birch) turns up, beaten and bruised. The facts surrounding the case are slowly revealed through her discussions with a police psychologist (Embeth Davidtz), as she tries to uncover what happened the kids.
Thora Birch plays the role of a homely yet sensual young girl on the quest for the eye of a sexy American (Daniel Brocklebank), whose father is a rock star. She and Frankie (Kiera Knightly) are friends, and they two devise a scheme with Frankie’s boyfriend to get the young lovers to hook up. They head into an abandoned bomb shelter in the woods, but are mysteriously locked in for days on end.
The police must determine who is responsible, and if there is anyone who shares blame for trapping these kids in the Hole without food or water.
“The Hole” is told in a series of flashbacks, which reveals the story throughout the film. The mystery isn’t as much what happened to the kids, but also what exactly happened. As people are questioned, differing versions of reality are presented, and it’s up to the police to figure out which one is the truth.
“The Hole” is a nice piece of mysterious fiction. There’s a fair degree of creepiness, and the plot does keep you guessing. Thora Birch does a great job leading the cast, and while Kiera Knightly doesn’t do much more than stand there and look pretty, it works for the role.
There is a fair collection of extra features, including deleted scenes, a director’s commentary and the theatrical trailer. Additional features include cast and crew bios and an image gallery.
Some red herrings are a little much as the story unfolds, and things sew up a little too neatly. But at least it seems that the filmmakers knew where they were going with this one, which is a heck of a lot more than I can say for “Godsend.”
Specifications: Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Widescreen (2.35:1) - Enhanced for 16x9 televisions. French language track. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
