The place we stayed in Vermont had satellite TV and we watched the movie Transformers. Then the weekend before last we went on a double date with our friends we've been meaning to hang out with for over a year. We saw Eagle Eye. And finally this weekend, we rented the new Indiana Jones. All movies starring our friend from Holes and Disney Channel fame. I feel like it is my duty to review each film and particularly the performance of the kid from Holes, as I am now an expert on his body of work.
Holes
In the movie, Holes, the kid from Holes begins to establish his street cred as the go-to young male actor for the harmless outcast/underdog role. He plays a kid with a long history of bad luck who is trying to change his fortune and break the "curse" on his family. He is sent to some sort of juvenile prison camp in some random out-of-the-way desert area in the lovely United States. There he interacts with several outcast/reject types with various issues, teaches a boy to read, escapes, brings down the evil prison camp, and clears his name. This movie is good fun. I watched it with five or six thirteen year old boys and we were all equally satisfied. It's a touching film.
Next we have Transformers
In this film, the kid from Holes plays a high school outcast who bought a car that turned out to be alive. The car "chose" him because his grandfather was the discoverer of this thing-a-ma-jig that will destroy earth or something. Anyway he fights the evil machines with the help of the good machines and saves the world. This movie plays especially to the adolescent male crowd with the fantasy of the nerd/underdog getting the "hot chick." That angle was pretty amusing, but the dialogue in this movie was also quite amusing. I think a fun game to play with the movie Transformers might be to count the non sequiturs. The plot is not very developed, but the random things people say in the movie make for some good entertainment.Eagle Eye
To continue the historical journey we should have the Indiana Jones movie next, but I'd rather go in the order that I saw the films. So next we have Eagle Eye, complete with family baggage and evil machines. The kid from Holes plays the less-favored, less-capable, dare-I-say "outcast" twin brother who is thrust into this mega- super- hyper- uber- intense series of high impact action where he is being monitored and told what to do through technology. It's a classic fear of technology film, but I found it to be good fun and I would highly recommend it. It's quite enjoyable to make jokes about technology controlling our lives after viewing this film. The kid from Holes continues his accidental action hero routine.
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Finally, we have the new Indiana Jones movie. To be frank, it is not very good. Ten minutes in, we paused it to get our frozen pizza out of the oven and El Esposo was already saying Harrison Ford is not delivering the goods as normal. I assured him that it's Harrison Ford and if anybody can charm with witty remarks amidst unlikely action it is him. He just needs something to work with. Wait for it. So we waited and waited and then it was over. The Holes kid plays the secret son of Indiana Jones, who has a bit of a tough kid outcast act (though of course he's loveable and harmless) and, oh yeah, family baggage from not ever knowing his father. The action in the movie is pretty inventive and it's not like the acting is actually bad, just adequate. It's mostly a weak script here that is at fault, but the difference between this movie and every other movie on this list is that this not fully realized script has pretty much no redeeming qualities. No entertaining non-sequitirs, no playing on real fears in real life, and no classic Harrison Ford wit.
In summary, I remain a huge fan of the kid from Holes, but break from the super-fan sentiment that he can do no wrong and every picture he is in shines.
6 comments:
That kid from Holes is awesome in Disturbia, a modernization of Hitchcock's Rear Window. His best work that I have seen. We also saw Indy this weekend and thought it was crappy. :( I'm on the lookout for Eagle Eye though.
This reminds me of my friends and I who always referred to Christian Bale as that guy from Newsies. :)
I felt the same way about that kid from Holes. I still am mad at Spielberg for the last Indy movie though.
Eagle Eye was extremely good for the first half of it...but totally stunk after they revealed what was really going on. I want to reveal it so you know how crappy it was, but I will restrain myself. Let's just say "Hello Space Odessey 2001") and hope that doesn't give too much away.
First of all its Shia Labueof the most gifted actor/entertainer to come from the Disney channel since Justin Timberlake. Second so what if the plot of Indiana Jones made no sense and never seemed to go anywhere it had Shia in it. You toss this kid in any film and he will give it just enough charm to pull it off. You could pair this kid with Dane Cook in a comedy about marching bands and I'd still watch it.
steve - i did not realize the kid from holes had done anything else (besides disney channel stuff). i may very well look into it.
sherpa - agreed.
sj - harsh. admittedly some truth, but i thought it was all good fun at the movies.
l.b. - you have a point, but there truly was nothing to work with in that movie. keep that enthusiasm going, though.
plus, he's cute :)
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