Wrongly convicted of stealing a pair of trainers, Stanley gets sent to a young offenders camp in the desert where the boys are made to dig holes each day not to get anywhere or achieve anything but just to build character. Under the strict supervision of the mean Mr Sir and the warden, the boys are put through strict daily regimes as punishment. While digging, Stanley finds some artifacts that allude the town and people who used to be in this desert area a history that the warden has a particular interest in. So while Stanley's story moves forward, the history of the town and in particular outlaw Kate Barlow is told in flashback.
Like many viewers I had hoped that Holes would be better because of the cast but also the fact that it does generally does have a good reputation. Here and there across the film I could see elements of what I was hoping for in the characters, the development of the darker themes, the expansion on genre clichés and so on. Sadly though for the most part the film is a rather uneven mess that never really satisfied me as a film. The ideas are good but somehow it has not been pulled together into a final product that works as a coherent product. The tone is as uneven as the material and it does drift around unevenly and doesn't flow forward as a good narrative.
It does has its moments and I did like it here and there but ultimately I was left a tad disappointed by it. The cast must have seen something in it because of the sheer volume of well-known faces. Risen star LaBeouf is roundly good and his strong performance did make it feel more of a shame that the material hadn't come under him in support. Voight is hammy and only works part of the time while Weaver is not a character I understood and it affected how good I thought she was. Nelson was OK but the adult cast do tend to be out-acted by some of the kids in particular Thomas, Jefferson and a few others.
Holes has its moments and it does have good elements to it but it fails to pull them all together effectively into a satisfying story with a consistent tone to it. As a result the film is pretty messy and hard to really get into or stick with. A shame but at best Holes is a so-so family film.
Like many viewers I had hoped that Holes would be better because of the cast but also the fact that it does generally does have a good reputation. Here and there across the film I could see elements of what I was hoping for in the characters, the development of the darker themes, the expansion on genre clichés and so on. Sadly though for the most part the film is a rather uneven mess that never really satisfied me as a film. The ideas are good but somehow it has not been pulled together into a final product that works as a coherent product. The tone is as uneven as the material and it does drift around unevenly and doesn't flow forward as a good narrative.
It does has its moments and I did like it here and there but ultimately I was left a tad disappointed by it. The cast must have seen something in it because of the sheer volume of well-known faces. Risen star LaBeouf is roundly good and his strong performance did make it feel more of a shame that the material hadn't come under him in support. Voight is hammy and only works part of the time while Weaver is not a character I understood and it affected how good I thought she was. Nelson was OK but the adult cast do tend to be out-acted by some of the kids in particular Thomas, Jefferson and a few others.
Holes has its moments and it does have good elements to it but it fails to pull them all together effectively into a satisfying story with a consistent tone to it. As a result the film is pretty messy and hard to really get into or stick with. A shame but at best Holes is a so-so family film.