Cave
diving expeditions have so seldomly become the object of action
movies. The closest I can recall would be "The
Descent", but even
that one was in fact part of the survival horror genre. I guess
caving just isn't that exciting in movies, without something to
enhance the experience. So this is why, with the help of James
Cameron (serving as executive producers), they tried to push
"Sanctum"
as the ultimate 3D cave dwelling experience.
The
movie tells of the adventures of an expedition going into one of the
largest unexplored cave systems in the world. A powerful storm rips
through the area and floods the caves, trapping the group of
explorers deep within. A race against the clock ensues to find a way
out. And it would all be so exciting if it had but a few needful
things, like interesting characters and dialogue, and good 3D.
Indeed, this is where the movie suffers tremendously. The dialogue is
so stale you can taste it in your mouth and the characters are so
cliched that they just feel like stock characters used in place of
real ones. And let's not go into the acting. What acting ? Richard
Roxburgh does a pretty good job, all things considered, as Frank, an
experienced cave diving veteran, and Rhys Wakefield shows some promis
as his son, Josh. But everyone else just fades into the darkness of
the cave. I was half hoping that the creatures from "The
Descent" would jump
in and eat them all. And everything that happens is so over-the-top
from a dramatic point of view. We've got it all, from father-son
issues to betrayals and sacrifices, and of course there's something
rotten with the rich dude. Also, filling the dialogue with F-bombs,
and pushing the violence to an R rating is just pointless and
gratuitous, doing more damage than good.
But
I'm being too harsh, I guess. The actual adventure stuff is pretty
good. The sense of claustrophobia and suspenseful climbing scenes are
pretty well done, although not as intense as, let's say, "Vertical
Limit", or "K2:
The Ultimate High".
I guess I'm about to once more state that point about caving movies
not being terribly exciting. But, like I said, it does have its
moments. Word of warning though, if you intend on seeing this in 3D,
don't. It's well known that 3D darkens the image considerably, and
since most of the movie takes place inside a cave, most of it is
already pretty dark, which renders the 3D useless. Some nice aerial
views in the beginning show promise, but it's better to just go ahead
and watch it in normal 2D.
It's disappointing that Cameron actually endorsed this movie. It's
just not very good. The premise sounded good, and I guess the mirage
of making this in 3D was rather tempting, but bad casting, a lousy
script, inexistent direction and a lack of excitement sink this one.
In the end it qualifies as passable entertainment, but if you're
seeking some kind of exciting blockbuster, this is not it.
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