Very disappointing...

Absolutely Fantastic

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

First thing I sense and think that a movie will be bad is faces of actors and things they talk etc. Here I see Justin Bieber and I know what follows... Fake cool-dude useless dialogs and... laugh. When they laugh loudly at the beginning I know a film is disaster. I had to fast forward. No real story here, no arc, no script, no plot, no character development. Wooden dialogues and water. No but thanks. I'm out of here. Jaws are still a role model for water movies. Thanks Steven-like in Allen's case you made your first movies classics. Later on just no.

I got this on Bluray as somewhat naively I got fooled by the big "James Cameron" marketing and was expecting some interesting underwater camera work ala The Abyss.The director, Alister Grierson, shows good technical ability but no creative inspiration. So we don't feel like we're following the action, the camera work doesn't invite the sense of claustrophobia nor do we get (bar a couple of short examples) much in the way of epic scenery.Still, the camera work and scenery are solid enough to tell us an effective dramatic tale of caught-in-caves. Problem is we have to endure cheesy clichéd dialogue delivered by an amateurish cast, plus we're saddled with a boring father-son emotional dynamic which develops as predictably as the doom of those first few red-shirts.The realistic cave-diving techniques on-show and a couple of nice scenes save this from being awful, but the cast and screenplay do pull this down into below-average.Only really recommended for cavers and divers who are interested in seeing their discipline on-screen.

Sanctum (2011): Dir: Alister Grierson / Cast: Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Parkinson, Daniel Wyllie: Overbearing and increasingly horrid cave diving film that uses the 3D gimmick to exhausted failure. It stars a host of little known actors who are introduced quickly before diving into the largest cave in the world. From there the place floods with a storm being no help to their quest. What is truly unfortunate is how this film claims to be inspired by true events yet it relies on stupid thriller clichés that mount towards one survivor. Director Alister Grierson does his best with the watery visuals and an overlong tunnel of caves but the cast do little more than shout over loud noise and die in accidents that might have been prevented had an common sense been used. Among the cast is Richard Roxburgh as the experienced explorer whom spends much time being right and fending off arguments. Rhys Wakefield plays his son who is an experienced climber. He spends much of the film arguing with his father and having to prove himself. This bickering is not half as entertaining as an episode of Jerry Springer. Ioan Gruffudd plays some outsider who takes video and pictures but how the screenplay handles his fate is total thriller bullshit. This all feels staged and phony from a narrative standpoint. Other characters are about as dull as the folks narrating their activities on fishing shows. Then there is the huge marketing regarding James Cameron as executive producer. It isn't like he directed it. Had he directed it then perhaps it might not have turned out to be the total toilet waste fiasco that it is. Score: 2 / 10

Much was made during the publicity and promotion for Sanctum of James Cameron's name being attached, understandably so. Sanctum is what it is, a glossy exercise in 3D film making, a disaster movie awash with clichés and contrivances, a picture that's narrative drive comes from following a well worn formula in this particular sphere of genre film making. Is it fun? Thrilling? Oh absolutely! The effects work is super at times, the scenery equally so, whilst some of the set pieces are dynamite. If you can get past the cheese and cliché buffet bar then there's a whole bunch of tasty treats to be sampled down in those dark and dingy cave formations…It's directed by Alister Grierson but in truth this is a Cameron movie, and with that comes the fact that it's the best and worst of Cameron. Take that as you will… 6.5/10