Watered down: Sanctum could cave Cameron's reputation
Sanctum tells the story of a terrifying adventure in an incompetent way. Some of it is exciting, the ending is involving, and all of it is a poster child for the horrors of 3D used wrongly. The film is being heavily marketed as a "James Cameron Production," but if this were a "James Cameron Film," I suspect it would have fewer flaws and the use of 3D would be much improved.
The movie, based on a true story, involves a scuba-diving expedition into the Esa-ala Caves of New Guinea, said to be the largest cave system in the world. The plan is to retrace an already-explored route to reach a "base camp" somewhere far beneath the surface, and then to press on, perhaps to find how the surface water draining into the caves finds its way to the sea. There's no need to discover this, you understand, but after some loss of life, Frank (Richard Roxburgh), the leader of the expedition, tells his son, Josh (Rhys Wakefield), that only in a cave does he feel fully alive; the humdrum surface world is not for him and "human eyes have never seen this before."
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Just seen this movie and I cannot agree with the review at all. I found the photography simply stunning, the underwater technical expertise incredible, and utterly believable. The story was brave...uncomfortable at times yes; but I could relate to the relationship subtly expressed between father and son. It was cutting edge. Came away wondering how each of us would re-act given those terryfying circumstances? I also thought it was a very deep film (deep in the undercurrents of each of the characters). they each had their own agendas and it seemed only Frank was able to focus them to the purpose of the expedition. James Cameron for me, has done it again...been king-pin of a honest, incredible 3D movie that tells it like it is (or could be). See this movie and make your own judgements. Great.!