So much average

Film Perfection

A different way of telling a story

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The Hole is a psychological thriller with a compelling premise and twisted end. Thora Birch is ideal at depicting despondent infatuated girls like in this and American Beauty. The Hole was Keira Knightley's second film after The Phantom Menace and she was only 16 in it, apparently, as she lied about her age when she was in her teens. How dare you, Keira! Liar! Embeth Davidtz is absolutely sensational in everything she's in including this. Desmond Harrington, Laurence Fox, and Daniel Brocklebank are in it. The Hole is good, real good. It's not a movie I would watch with guy friends moreso a girlfriend. You have to watch The Hole until the end. Don't fall into The Hole unless you've got a couple of hours to kill. Generally try to avoid falling into holes altogether if you can.

'The Hole' looked like an interesting and different thriller, featuring a young and relatively unknown Keira Knightley. After a promising, intriguing start, 'The Hole' soon loses its direction, resembling a cheap, low budget horror film with over the top drama and some far-fetched scenarios.It's also surprisingly unexciting for a so-called 'thriller'. A plot like this should have you gripped, but it doesn't, probably because at no point does any of it feel real. There are plot holes aplenty, and I got the impression at times that even the film had no idea what it wanted to do next.Overall, 'The Hole' is a below average, poorly thought out film that fails to live up to its 'thriller' label. It feels cheap, unexciting and lacks any sort of direction.

I guess this is a fine example of the proverb "The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions", cause after the ending of this movie it can only lead deeper into Hell.As to the movie, not really what I expected but very suspenseful. The main character does make a chilling transformation from victim to perpetrator, yet all the time remaining a victim to itself. So it's true that evil is born out of an uncontrollable desire, whose need to be fulfilled blots out all reason and humanity, only the need counts and justifies all action. A good lesson here for everyone. Worth a watch.

Four teens have been missing from their expensive private school for 18 days. Then one of them Liz Dunn (Thora Birch) comes stumbling back to school. She tells police psychologist Dr. Horwood (Embeth Davidtz) a story of desperation. The four teens (Desmond Harrington, Keira Knightley, Laurence Fox) had wanted a private party away from their families and ditch their school trip. They employed the help of Martyn (Daniel Brocklebank) who faked their school records and locked them in an underground bunker. The plan was for him to return after the weekend to unlock the door and let them out. However he never returned.This movie has aspirations of something better. It wants to be a Hitchcock noir. For the first half, it achieves something close to it. However, the movie starts showing the real story, and any mystery disappears.There is a better way this could have gone. Director Nick Hamm probably should have stayed with Embeth Davidtz as she tries to unravel the mystery. If that's the case, he can't really have Thora Birch blab out the story so early on.Then there is the ending. It makes very little sense that anybody could believe Thora Birch's story. The basic premise that these kids would be willing to let themselves be locked up is too hard to believe. The first time they shut the door, they would want to try to test it. The whole thing seems convoluted.