Dig

Scott Brennan (Thomas Jane) runs a Salvage Yard. His 16 year old daughter (Harlow Jane) runs off to a party with older boys. Scott and his wife go retrieve her. An altercation happens and his wife is killed. The daughter ends up mostly deaf and also becomes a trauma mute. They both blame each other for their mother's death after one year. Vic (Emile Hirsch) shows up at Scott's salvage and has a job he wants done and will pay a lot for it. Scott cancels his plans and takes his daughter and a workman out to the site to strip it clean. Vic show up with his girlfriend Lola (Liana Liberato) and hold them at gun point demanding they dig a hole in the patio. We don't know what they are looking, but there are enough clues to figure it out before they get there. Liana Liberato did an excellent job as a female killer for those who miss Harley Quinn. Emile Hirsch was also good. The script lacked decent dialogue for everybody else, allowing the bad guys to steal the scenes. Guide F-word. No nudity.

I usually don't leave reviews but was excited to see this one because I started doing coverages for a production company before the pandemic, this was one of the scripts I remember reading. Really enjoyed it. Glad to see it made. Though the original version had three antagonists instead of two ala Straw Dogs. So I was surprised to see some beats changed from script to film. Overall the heart of the story between father and daughter is all there. It's crazy how the final product ends up. Looks like the director gave it more of a Natural Born Killers vibe (which I can do without) rather than what I remember reading, which had more of a Desperate Hours feel (the one with Bogart not Rourke ha). Anyway, for being a lower budget film it's not bad, we've all seen a lot worse. People are knocking Emil but I like the job he does along with Thomas Jane. Hirsch really puts it all into the role. The film has a few by the book beats but to be fair every film has "tropes". The one location thriller has become a popular genre, one pops up every few months. Still strong concept and loved the father and daughter relationship which was played by Jane's real daughter. She does a good job, guess it runs in the family. The directing was generic for these types of thrillers but at same time not reinventing the wheel here either. Cinematography was good for the budget. Overall it's not bad, decent if you want to check it out. I dug it at the end of the day.

Signature scenes the rubber mallet, that about says it all. Between my eyes, over and over again, the whole time. Thinly veiled macguffins, reasons for the characters having investment, motivation, plot devices, whatever. Pretty much that way throughout; by the time the thugs are holding the heroes captive, more of the same, more rubber mallet blows to the viewer's face. Get it over with already. How many more characters do I really need to describe just how much of a lame duck this one really was. So many were the plot devices, motivations, etc, was it really that interesting, no, not really. I am finally done.

The title of this movie should say it all. It's dirt. I run into horrible movies with great actors in them all the time but this one is so aggravating. Emile Hirsch is usually good for some entertainment but instead the produces gave him baby dialogue. He would quote baby book titles and even the characters in the books thinking he were some genius but Emile did say he only had a 4th grade education. Also, my biggest pet peeve is for someone to finally get the upper hand and he bonks the bad guy on the head then turns around and runs but he immediately gets caught. Every single time the bad guy gets up and catches them..so annoying and predictable..Bad movie, bad writing and everyone involved in this movie should be yelled at..

The movie is pretty tedious to be honest. It starts off kind of ok, then just goes down hill bit by bit, scene by scene. There is way way too much dialogue and I kind of feel bad for the actors because the script is pretty lame. There are a few good scenes, but overall I barely made it to the end. And by the end you just want it to end already. I keep wondering how scripts like this get good actors to sign on board, how do they not know how bad the script and film would turn out? Also, the director chose this honkey tonk soundtrack instead of a score so that also doesn't work. 3/10. Thanks for the effort but it just didn't work out.