REVIEW: SANCTUM

Nice to hear the 3D works in this one. I'll be sure to check this out when SANCTUM opens here in Singapore in 2 weeks.

I figured as much from the trailer. Impressively shot but completely perfunctory as a story.

Personally, I enjoyed the 3D but otherwise hated the experience.

It's screenwriting at its most basic and tiresome, although I think I'm being too generous there when the entire film has only ONE character I didn't downright loathe for being not only assholes, but also stupid. That guy was Gary, the goofy dude who loved The Ramones and once got The Clap in Mexico. Of course, he dies about midway through, as I figured. Otherwise, everyone else was a complete moron and did really stupid things just because the script told them to do so. And all the petty arguing they did got on my nerves real quickly. It wasn't long before I was hoping that most of them would die in the caves, or that those creatures from The Descent would show up. Hell, the creatures from The Cave would have been fine by me. Of course, the lead protagonist, Josh, is the guy that irked me the most, both with his stupidity and being-quite frankly-a little bitch who is whiny about his daddy issues.

It's a shame, as the movie COULD have been a lot of fun, with many tense moments too. Here, though, the movie seemed to go on forever as I didn't care about the characters or the situations they were in. It wasn't even that claustrophobic. That aspect was much better in The Descent, which I enjoy even before the monsters unleash their havoc. So, all I have to do is sigh here at what could have been.

I liked it, and I liked it more than 127 Hours at that. There are a couple of sequences that really had me gasping, and I like that they didn't try to open up the story by cutting to action on the surface at any time.

I had fun with this one.  Cliched as hell and about as deep as a thimble, but once things get going, they rarely slow down.  I only knew Roxburgh from Moulin Rouge and Van Helsing and wasn't prepared for this level of gruffness from him.  I liked how they establish his character by having him rip a breathing apparatus out of the hands of a drowning woman.  Gruffudd was distractingly awful though.  Yikes.  The 3-D was neat and never obnoxious.  Some of the visuals are great.  I would have appreciated a couple more red shirts down there to beef up the body count, but oh well.  

Caught this on Blu tonight. It was ok. Roxburgh surprised me. Its nothing special but its a breath of fresh air compared to most studio trash out there.