Sanctum

by Gary Barnidge on February 10th, 2011

The Starting Lineup – Frank (Richard Roxburgh) Carl (Ioan Gruffudd) Josh (Rhys Wakefield) Victoria (Alice Parkinson) Crazy George (Dan Wyllie) J.D. (Christopher Baker)

Gary’s Thoughts – Let me start by saying if you wanna see a beautiful 3D IMAX film then this film is one you should check out. James Cameron is truly the king of 3D because this whole movie is shot in 3D and is very immersive and makes you feel as if you are in their situation. Now back to my thoughts, the movie is visually stunning with the feel of an actual cave. The movie puts a huge emphasis on acting to deliver the fear experienced from the characters and for the most part delivers, but in some instances it looks forced or just not much fear involved. Sanctum does keep you on edge and truly makes you feel as if this could happen to you or anyone (which really could happen). It also builds on a lot of people’s fears to deliver the scares such as drowning, Heights, the dark, and being lost. You will always be wondering how will they get out of this which just builds the suspense of the film.

The Game Plan – When one of the last unexplored caves invites in some cave explores to explore its world, its starts a beautiful and scary journey through the cave until a Cyclone starts to flood the cave and leaves them on a race to find a way out before the cave feels with water.

Touchdowns – The 3D experience is beautiful and stunning and puts you in the action. You can almost feel the water around you. The experienced cave explorer Frank (Richard Roxburgh) is portrayed as someone who not only relates to the cave but in a way is just like the cave careless, unforgiving, and rugged. The realism of the situation and all the fears that they have to deal with makes you ask yourself what you would do in that situation which puts you in their situation with them.

Penalties – The movie is very realistic in many forms with the cave and diving, but they say the cave runs to the ocean and in most caves their are life forms and fish and other different insects but in this film you never see one. Ioan Gruffudd (Carl) and Alice Parkinson (Victoria) performances are only sub par with the forced fear and just blank stares. They also use the foreshadowing and cliche words ( “what can go wrong diving in caves”) that always lead to problems for them and everyone else.

The Game Winner / Fumble – The best part of the film was the total immersion that the 3D and IMAX gives you while watching the movie. You can almost feel what they feel which makes you feel the fear they feel. Some of the acting felt forced which just makes you root against certain characters.

Game Summary – James Cameron’s 3D journey’s are what makes 3D movies worth watching and this film delivers a visually stunning movie but for the most part that is the best part about the movie. The movie has a lot of ups and downs but has a little more downs then ups. It does build on people’s fears which makes the movie intriguing to watch but some of the acting takes that intrigue away with some forced fear and a lot of what do we do next followed by complaining about doing it which gets old. To sum the movie up if you want a beautifully done 3D film that plays on your fears then this film may be for you but don’t expect any oscar nominee performances.