Dig

For a B grade low budget film, it's not bad, I've seen a lot worse. The directing and cinematography was decent, and surprisingly for a B film, the score and soundtrack worked well, especially the finger-snapping music. Casting and performances were convincing, especially the Jane father-daughter duo as father and daughter, but I feel Liana Liberato needed better cast direction. The story was a good concept for the genre, but the screenplay by the newb writers, the Ablakhads, in their first ever writing credit, certainly needed some fine tuning. Even in the normally comfortable 90 min runtime and decent pacing, the film felt much longer from the lack of any real narrative. The entire first act wasn't fitting (or really needed) with the rest of the story, and there were many repetitive plot and technical issues. The dialogue was very cheesy and not enough was happening to hold the viewers attention. This film would've worked better as a short film, and/or most of the dialogue reworked with more actual drama instead of fluff, as well as more narrative in the story itself. More action and less words would've worked great on this film. But as their first writing credit, the Ablakhads did good, rookie mistakes and all. It's a generous 6/10 from me for this one-time watchable "if there's nothing else to watch" film.

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..

Well, this isn't great. DIG is a home invasion thriller in which an ageing Thomas Jane plays a widowed father with a volatile relationship with his own teenage daughter. One day, they're at their rural farmhouse when a sadistic couple of criminals show up, looking to retrieve something buried on the site. And that's the plot. Immediately the thought is, can they sustain the suspense till the credits roll, and the answer to that is...definitely not. In fact, at least half of this film seems to be heavily padded, with repetitive dialogue and too many scenes of characters getting beaten up all the time. Hirsch's villain overacts, and the climax, when it eventually comes, isn't worth the wait.

I have always enjoyed Thomas Jane I find he brings an underlying humour to his work that I like. I also don't mind Emile Hirsch.

But But But...

Oh boy does this movie seriously suck. The characters are fundamentally awful, one dimensional and dare I say it boring. The daughter, played by (who cares) literally removes pieces of your soul each time she is on screen (which is a lot).

Its mega predictable and offers nothing of interest to anything more intelligent than single cell amoebas.

I only gave it two stars because it has Thomas Jane in it.

Better to DIG yourself a hole, climb in and slowly pull the dirt over your face :)

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.