Holes Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)April 21st, 2003
HOLES
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Louis Sachar's story is extremely clever,
but his characters are just not really very
engaging. Take away the gimmicks and there is not
much left here. An innocent boy is sent to a
correctional work camp where the order of the day
every day is dig holes in the desert. He wins the
friendship and respect of the other boys and then
the story gets dissipated into strange plot twists
and weird connections. Rating: 6 (0 to 10),
high +1 (-4 to +4)
HOLES is one of those crazy, weird stories in which weird plot details seem to keep coming in totally at random. By the halfway point one is never sure where the film is going to be in another two minutes. But by the end of the film it is clear that there was method in all the madness and all the strange loose ends weirdly get knitted up so that every part of the film fits into every other part. That is a kind of clever scriptwriting that I can admire. A script where all that can be happening in a good story is really a thing of awe. But that sort of cleverness should not be what the story is all about. There needs to be a good story under it all. If the plot is only bland and then gets pulled into a lot of loose ends, the cleverness of the weird scripting can do no more for the film than good cinematography or a good musical score can by themselves. HOLES is a story where if you pull on only one little plot point, everything else in the film seems tied into it. The only problem is that the basic work camp tale is somewhat mediocre. The characters are not good and I found I just could not really care what happens to them.
Louis Sachar wrote the film based on his own book written for young adults. There are a lot of weird things going on. Shia LaBeouf plays Stanley Yelnats IV, the son of a man trying to find a way to deodorize sneakers. When he is convicted of a crime he did not commit he is sentenced to eighteen months at Camp Green Lake. In spite of the pleasant sounding name, Camp Green Lake is a work camp where boys who have been in trouble with the law are sent to work out their time digging holes in a dried-up lakebed desert. The regimen is one hole five feet in diameter and five feet deep each and every day for each and every boy. Three scoundrels run the camp. There are two sadists: Mr. Sir played by Jon Voight and Warden Walker played by Sigourney Weaver, and the worthless counselor Mr. Pendanski played by the multi-faceted Tim Blake Nelson. (Can you believe this actor is also an award- winning country music singer and wrote, produced, and directed the shattering concentration camp film THE GREY ZONE? When do you find time to sleep, Mr. Nelson?)
The film returns ever again to tell the story of Stanley's family from what looks like the hill country of Latvia, if there is such a thing. There is a gypsy curse on the Yelnats family. It also tells the story of a Wild West desperado named Kissin' Kate Barlow. Do not worry, everything will make a sort of sense as well as tie into everything else. There is also a plot about racial intolerance. That too is part of the whole strange enchilada.
HOLES has some impressive actors to bolster the story but is not highly demanding of its major adult actors. Sigourney Weaver plays her role as warden calm and cold and demanding. It is a role she has played most of her career. She adds a little more ruthlessness to her character, but it still is not greatly innovative. Jon Voight's career shows a good deal more variety, but here his character has a lot in common with the lowlife he played in ANACONDA. The film also features such diverse actors as Eartha Kitt, Henry Winkler, and Patricia Arquette. HOLES is directed by Andrew Davis, who usually does action films for adults, having directed UNDER SEIGE and THE FUGITIVE. It is odd to see him direct a young adult film, but that is not the only odd thing about this film by a long shot.
There is a lot in the film that is just a little off-kilter. Some of it is good off-kilter and some is not. There may be too much cleverness for the film's own good. I rate the film a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
[email protected]
Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
