Sanctum (2011)

It's been around 20 years since I last walked out of a movie. I don't like doing it, but with this stinker, I had no choice. Every cheap, corny cliché ever thought up is thrown in our faces within the first 20 minutes (just prior to my exit), i.e. "he plays by his own rules", "hey, your son's a good kid - cut him some slack", "son of a bitch", and many, many more. The last is said with an Australian accent - we don't use that term! The complete lack of character exploration, as well as some absolutely horrendous acting and a 'plot' leaving the viewer feeling they came in one hour late (no, I didn't), all contribute to it's awfulness. I detest putting anything made in Australia 'down', but save your money folks - this one's a dud.

Fmovies: first - Cameron is one of 9 producers. i can only imagine cameron was interested in working under water. besides that, there is nothing jim cameron in this movie in my opinion.

this movie is in 3d which is fun. scenery is great, caves, water etc.

however - there is no plot what so ever. at no point did i feel compassion nor connection to any of the characters.. those who died and those who survived. at no point did i identified myself with the plot, hoping these guys will make it out alive.

yeah - really poor plot and boring dialogs.

acting was good for whatever material was thrown on these poor actors..

seriously - don't bother with this film.

moving along.

I was expecting this film to be a lot worse but it was supported by my JC - James Cameron as executive producer and it does have some of the best 3D visuals out there. I praise Alister Grierson for using proper 3D cameras and not only that, the ones JC prefers and created. It was a joy to actually watch a proper 3D film and not the hideous post production 3D I have bitched about on numerous occasions. I think the utilizing of JC written everywhere will definitely help this film immensely and to some extent it truly deserves it.

Some of the scenes in this film are poetic artwork and sheer beauty and provide some mouth agape splendor. And the 3D really does immerse you in the environment, there were moments of vertigo and a constant claustrophobia suffered by myself. The only thing I have struggled to do that I have tried is scuba diving - I chewed through the mouthpiece and kept wanting to rip my mask off - not a cool way to dive . If you can see this one in IMAX 3D then do it - would be totally worth it.

The film also has a really worked out plot, the story is great, although it has been done to death before in different settings, it's an escape film like Towering Inferno. In fact think of The Poseidon Adventure minus the boat . If you don't work out who will survive in the first ten minutes then good for you . It is extremely clichéd with some obvious flaws - for example, the one lady who doesn't wear a wetsuit but wears this huge red outdoor storm gear thing nearly dies of hypothermia and shivers the whole time and yet all the guys are wearing wetsuits, although all sleeveless so we can see some flesh and they are always nice and cosily warm. What this film really lacked though was a decent script - some of the lines in this film had me laughing and cringing in equal parts. It really needed someone like Roberto Orci and/or Alex Kurtzman from Star Trek fame to flesh it out and make it justifiably awesome. But the script brings a lot of the film to B grade level.

Then the other thing that let this film down was one actor, Ioan Gruffudd - I could not believe how bad he was in this film. This guys is a lead in Fantastic 4, was in Titanic, King Arthur and numerous other films but in this he plays this over the top, heavily and badly accented American and it was so badly played he brought the film down a few notches - there were scenes I was hoping he would die so he would be gone from the film. It was shocking.

I will say thank god for the two main leads, Richard Roxburgh and Rhys Wakefield, playing his son. When I first saw the trailer I wasn't too impressed with Roxburgh - he always puts on a silly accent in films and in things like MIssion Impossible 2 he was this hideous bleach headed idiot. But in this film he really pulls it off and I preferred him as a leading man than as a supporting cast member. I found his role very believable and a strength in the film.

Then there was Rhys Wakefield, I found him great in the film and see a strong future for him following that Australian to US market. He is incredibly attractive and has smoother skin that Just Bieber after a buffing. Josh (Wakefield) has a superb relationship with his father in the film, Frank (Roxburgh). It is a love hate, make them tough relationship and it developed nicely and made Josh a man by the end of the film. His good looks were quite distractive in some scenes - as Josh is holding someone dying both Paul, my viewing partner, and myself were going oooh - nice arms. LOL. I am sure this is not what they we

Sanctum fmovies. A wonderful film. I had read a couple of reviews on IMDb and decided that it did not sound very good, but how wrong they were! I really don't know much about photography, directors, producers (or even many of the actors) so I always just base my reviews on whether or not I was entertained by the film and this time - three cheers! - I was! It was exciting - The cave scenes gave a claustrophobic feel to it and a couple of times I felt quite panicky myself! The photography was stunning enough to take my breath away. The plot was good enough to hold me enthralled right to the end. (Of course, it was not a particularly original plot but then again very few are and considering the numbers of films being churned out every day we can't be surprised if most of them use and re-use plots.) But this one was very well done. I felt sympathetic to the characters so I did want to know how it all turned out and although bits of it were predictable, it all made perfect sense (another plus for me!). To sum up, here's a film that I watched from start to finish and I enjoyed every bit of it.

This movie entertains from start to finish. Are the characters "two dimensional"? To me not in any sense (ha ha, yes the movie is 3D, lousy pun intended).

But seriously, for two hours you are taken on a brutal subterranean adventure. I liked the fact that it IS believable. It isn't just action - it is a true human drama and shows the good and bad that can come from people in a life or death situation. And I didn't think it was predictable (for the most part, anyway). I am guessing that the reviewers just didn't like the characters, but that is no fault of the actors; the characters were quite realistic, which I considered a huge plus, while others might have preferred something else. I do need to give a disclaimer that I did not research the "true" story and watched purely from the perspective that it is 100% fiction, so I'm not saying this is an accurate depiction of real events. But it sure seemed like something that could happen.

It isn't "The Black Swan". It isn't "True Grit". It won't be sweeping the Academy Awards. But was it entertaining and worth the price admission? Without question - I actually found it more enjoyable and gripping than anything I have seen in some time. Highly recommended - give it a fair chance!

After reading many negative reviews here, I thought I would add my spin on the movie. I loved it..

The scenery is great, you believe as though you could be there trapped, a long way underground and hoping you can hold your breath..

Yes as others say, at the start you may not like any of the characters, but this develops pretty well along the way.By the end you are caring about who gets out alive/dies and watch a father/son relationship develop.

Rhys Wakefield is particularly great in this flick. Having moved well on since his home and away days to an established Australian film Actor.

A great afternoon spent.