Reviews

Hole' is a low-budget British thriller (using Hollywood actors) in which four public school children lock themselves in a second world-war underground bunker to avoid the horrors of a geography field trip. The film opens with Liz (Thora Birch, ‘American Beauty', ‘Dungeons and Dragons') stumbling in to the school, bloodied and exhausted, after being missing for eighteen days. We are then introduced to various accounts of events from differing perspectives, and patent narrative unreliability, though not on the scale of ‘The Usual Suspects', as Liz and Martin (Daniel Brocklebank) reveal their stories to the police and to police psychologist Philippa (Embeth Davidtz). It is this narrative unreliability (NB. For an intellectual appreciation see G. Wilson's ‘Narration in Light') that is the most intriguing aspect of the film, as the audience is left guessing as to the truth and reality of what happened in ‘the hole'. The film has one or two very subtle and very clever scenes, but the audience must be sharp to see them.

With not having much money to play with, director Nick Hamm is unable to provide Hollywood style special effects, and ‘The Hole' can hardly claim to be a horror, although the first half of the film is remarkably suspensful. Hamm makes up for this with torchlight credits, and acting of the finest calibre. Brocklebank is excellent as is Desmond Harrington who plays Mike, an American who seems to capture Liz's heart. Laurence Fox bravely allows himself to be filmed totally naked as Keira Knightley (who plays the gorgeous Frankie) strolls in to the shower to invite him in to the hole. Surprisingly, of all the acting, only Thora Birch does not quite rise to the standard of her costars, though she is good nonetheless.

The second half of the film does not quite live up to the horror and shock we are promised in the first half, through a series of flashbacks, and perhaps the audience does not quite appreciate the harshness and claustrophobia of the subterranean bunker as much as it might. The actual plot is also fairly poor, though it is disturbing nonetheless, whilst the police incompetence is breathtakingly unrealistic. The idea of a group of people being trapped and then terrorised is nothing new, and reminds me of the 1986 slasher film ‘Slaughter High' in which a group of people are trapped and then picked off one by one by the crazed Marty. The similarity is in terms of the fact that the people are essentially stuck and know that they have very little chance of being found, and a sense of an evil force at the heart of their unsettling predicament.

Within the constraints of the budget this is a high quality film, and shows, as did ‘Blair Witch', that genuine suspense CAN come without special effects. This is the best British film I have seen in a few years, yet I came away feeling that it could have had a little more spark and intrigue in the second half of the film, but whether this could have been achieved through a higher budget is anyone's guess.

Overall 7/10

Set in the volatile political climate of Ecuador, 'Proof of Life' is basically a film about an engineer, Peter Bowman (David Morse, The Rock, The Negotiator) who is kidnapped by a ruthless gang of guerrillas. Enter former SAS man, Terry Thorne (Russell Crowe), a specialist in K&R (kidnap and ransom) to negotiate the terms of his release, whilst comforting and gaining the trust of Bowman's wife Alice (Meg Ryan). The ransom demands are extreme, and as Bowman and his company are uninsured it comes down to the family and Alice to provide the money, except they do not have the requisite amount, being able to accrue a mere $650 000.

This is a long and rambling film that fails on almost every level. Considering that Ryan and Crowe were having a sizzling and passionate romance, it is incredible that none of this is transferred to screen. Their chemistry is simply none existent, and although the film moves throughout at a horribly boorish pace, their inevitable romance seems contrived, hurried and without any foundation whatsoever. Prolonged eye contact does not suddenly equate to earth shattering, deep, romantic love. Crowe is an undoubted talent with tremendous and markedly different performances in films like 'Gladiator', 'The Insider' and 'LA Confidential'. There is no doubt that action films suit his acting style, and Crowe can pull off a good performance even when he is given very little to play with. 'Proof of Life' is supposed to demonstrate his more sensitive side, whilst maintaining the rugged charm and hardness that has made him successful, but this is without doubt his worst film to date.

Meg Ryan, seems to have built her career out of one film ('When Harry Met Sally') and more importantly one scene (the faked orgasm scene), and she is frankly awful in this film. She seems to be typecast, forever playing an emotional and tearful woman, and in 'Proof of Life' she is no different. Such repeated sentimentality in her characters make her performances much less effective than they might be in isolation, so when the tears come in this film, they are much less potent or moving than they ought to be.

'Proof of Life' is completely lifeless, and the only scene that saves it is towards the end where the film gets some 'Predator' like action scenes, and we realise why we have come to watch Crowe, viz. to see him fire his gun. The star of the film is Thorne's close friend, and fellow K&R specialist, Dino (David Caruso, 'NYPD Blue'), but he is in too few scenes to really save the film.

The premise of the film is a good one, as kidnapping has gone up massively throughout the world in the last ten years, especially in England, but there is so little that can be said that is positive about the film, although the ever reliable David Morse plays his hostage role particularly well. The usually sound Pamela Reed ('Kindergarten Cop'), plays Bowman's older sister, but her character could easily have been left out of the film altogether. In one scene she leaves for the airport to collect the ransom money and we never see or hear from her again.

Director Taylor Hackford ('Devil's Advocate') can do a lot better than this, although I am sure that the film will be a box-office success simply because Crowe is one of Hollywood's biggest actors, despite the fact that it is dull and unentertaining.

Overall 2/10

'Under Suspicion' is a remake of the French film, 'Garde a Vue' which itself is a remake of JohnWainwright's book, 'Brainwash', and when I heard that Gene Hackman had waited years to make the film, I decided that it could not be missed.

Henry Hearst (Hackman) is a wealthy tax lawyer who is due to be making a speech at a charity event in San Juan, Puerto Rica, to accrue funding after a hurricane had devastated the area. The previous day he had reported a young girl to the police who had been strangled and raped. The police captain, Victor Benezet, (Morgan Freeman) asks Hearst whether he could come down to the police station for an informal discussion of the previous days events before he goes on to the charity ball with his stunningly beautiful wife, Chantal (Monica Belluci). Hearst cooperates and reaffirms the statement he made to the police the previous day, but we soon realise that Hearst's story does not stand up to the evidence. Hearst continually changes his story to fit the facts, but seems to be implicating himself further and further as to having some kind of involvement with the girl's death, and indeed to another girl who was murdered and raped in an identical fashion. We soon learn about Hearst's marital difficulties, and indeed to his liaisons with prostitutes, which exacerbate the situation and indeed Benezet's suspicions of his involvement.

The film is somewhat reminiscent of 'Death and the Maiden', where Sigourney Weaver holds Ben Kingsley hostage, as she is convinced that he tortured her years earlier. Kingsley is tied up until his guilt or innocence can be verified. In this film, there seems to be equal evidence as to whether he is guilty or not, and only at the very end does the audience find out. However, the evidence in 'Under Suspicion' overwhelmingly points to Hearst's guilt, and this is accentuated by his guilty demeanour, with profuse sweating and rolling eyes.

This is an intriguing film, expertly acted by Hackman and Freeman, who are ably backed up by Monica Belluci, and Thomas Jane. Director Stephen Hopkins (Lost in Space, Predator 2) allows the audience to visualise Hearst's account of events to see the cracks, but such clarity is seemingly lost for an obscure, but thought-provoking ending, where everything is revealed, apparently! Overall - 4/10