Sanctum [2011]

“Sanctum” is being falsely advertised as a James Cameron movie. It’s true that he had some input, but he didn’t write or direct the film, and it shows. I found myself losing interest in it only halfway through, and that’s always a bad sign. It’s a dull, predictable and clichéd thriller that reminded me of the equally terrible “The Cave”. We’ve got a bunch of explorers who are stuck in an unexplored cave system and have to find a way out quickly. Sounds exciting at first. But how do they do it? They just go on and on in random directions, yet fail to find an exit. Of course, a few team members die along the way, as usual. So much for plot and character.

The film is definitely not for the claustrophobic. Much of the story takes place in a tight and dark cave. Even the camera is up close to all of the action, and one might get nauseous after a while. This makes the action and the locations of the characters hard to follow, and you’ll be begging to get out of that cave as soon as possible. What’s more, almost no character development occurs before the team find themselves stranded. This makes it hard for us to give a crap about any of these characters. And although the film claims that it was inspired by an incident some years ago, I can’t help but feel that almost everything else was not based on that true story. Either way, the result is a mess, and to see James Cameron’s name attached to this mess is beyond my understanding. Even a National Geographic documentary would have been more rewarding than this dreadful B-movie. Skip it.

Rating: 1.5/4