SANCTUM (in 3D) (2011)


Originally published in Cinema Knife Fight, February 8, 2011

SANCTUM (2011) is loosely based on the true story of Andrew Wright (SANCTUM’s co-writer, with John Garvin) being trapped while cave-diving (exploring underground lakes and rivers) with fourteen others for two days when the main entrance collapsed, forcing them to find a different way out. Very loosely-based, I assume, since I pray what happened in real life wasn’t as bad as what happens to folks in the film. Important note: SANCTUM is not a James Cameron-directed movie. He produced it (along with about six other producers… film producers are like bank vice presidents, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one). However, Cameron being the best-financed pioneer of REAL 3D (in which this film was shot), you know you’re in for a visual treat if nothing else, regardless of who directed (in this case, Alister Grierson, known mostly for short films).

Let’s talk about the 3D effects first – they were quite good, even excellent at times. Is it worth the extra money the theaters are taking from you? Well, that depends—probably not—in this case not because of the 3D wasn’t good, it was, but the story itself was weak. Unlike AVATAR (2009), where the story, coupled with the 3D effects, made it such a perfect combination, paying a little extra for the experience was well worth it. In SANCTUM, the combination of story and visuals is not nearly as strong to warrant, for most viewers I assume, the extra cost. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

There were some amazing things to see in SANCTUM. The opening scene of a helicopter flying over the massive hole in a South African rain forest, the entrance to the Esa-ala caves, was thrilling. I’m not sure if this is a real location or not. It could have been a uber-cool special effect, but I don’t think so. The carpet of rain forest broken by this deep, deep cave, in 3D, offers such depth on the screen that it almost takes your breath away. There were a couple of other moments in the film where this happens. For example, after newly discovering a massive cavern deep in the film’s elaborate cave system, the main character free-floats in deep, deep water off an underwater cliff. It’s beautiful. When he looks up, far, far above him is the underside of a surface, leading to a new cave… well, it’s simply an amazing thing to see, and feels like you’re there. Although there are other moments like this in the film—and here is an important point to make, especially when doing the inevitable comparison to Cameron’s visual masterpiece  AVATAR—although the entire movie SANCTUM is in 3D, there are only moments when the audience will go “oooohhh” or “aaaahhhh.” The rest of the scenes, underwater or in a fresh air cave with our actors doing their acting-thing, simply have added depth. AVATAR had an advantage, in that more than half the film was a CGI-rendered world, and computer-generated images are much easier to monkey with and render for 3D than real-life action films. So, overall, SANCTUM was rich and deep, though I wasn’t constantly lifting my jaw to chew my popcorn as I had done watching AVATAR. In fact, I found myself comparing what I was seeing to my innocent, youthful days as a child, staring through my View Master 3D toy, looking at 3D-rendered scenes of PETER PAN (1953) or SPACE: 1999 (1975).

Truth in lending time: if I can digress for a second. When I was a kid, I was never too wowed by the View Master. It did not look very 3D to me. Until one day, in my teens, when my brother noticed I had one eye closed. I did that because I had trouble lining up both eyes at the same time. He explained that it’s not 3D without using both eyes. So I managed to line my eyeballs up and, well, wow. Those View Master images really were in 3D. So there’s an experience that would never be recaptured from my lost youth. I suppose if that’s the worst thing to lose from my youth, aside from my teddy bear, Teddy, who died of strepp throat, I did alright.

Before I get into the Story part of the review, one last thing about the overall experience of SANCTUM. Although there was a plot, and there was acting—mostly good—I couldn’t shake the feeling that Linda and I were sitting in an IMAX theater watching one of those nature documentaries. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy those, but IMAX theaters have the added experience of starship-sized screens, and seats raised so high if a booger falls out of your nose it’ll land on the head of a person two rows down. Showcase Cinemas mostly have regular-sized screens. So if you see this movie, maybe try to watch it at an IMAX for the full effect. They’ll probably charge even more for a ticket, though. So, SANCTUM: there is a plot, and a story and fictional characters, like a real movie, so it has that going for it over the IMAX films. Sort of. To wit:

The basic plot of SANCTUM is that there is a labyrinthine series of caves snaking though a mountain in Papua, New Guinea. An expedition has been mapping these for months, trying to find a spelunking route, from the massive opening in the rainforest up top, to the water/river’s exit point at the base, where it flows into the Solomon Sea. Exploring and mapping these caves requires an expert combination of mountain climbing, cave spelunking, and deep-sea diving skills. The explorers repel into the bowels of the mountain, work their way through tight cave passages, then suit up and swim into deep waters of underground lakes and rivers, looking for the next open-air pocket cave from which to continue their explorations. In this manner, they work their way closer to the other end of the system. As the film opens, they’ve made it a good distance, hitting dead ends, returning to the base camp mid-way down, trying new pathways. Fortunately for our cast of characters, they make an important pathway discovery just before all soggy-hell breaks loose. If they hadn’t, well, we wouldn’t have much of a movie.

Leading the expedition is a rough and tumble explorer named Frank, played with, well, rough-and-tumbleness by Richard Roxburgh (VAN HELSING, 2004,MOULIN ROUGE, 2001). Roxburgh’s performance was by far the glue which held this film together. He played the part naturally, and with such confidence you believed he was able to lead such a hazardous expedition. Rhys Wakefield (HOME AND AWAY, 2008), played his angst-ridden teenaged son, and also had a terrific run in this film. I see some good things in Wakefield’s acting career, if his turn as son Josh is any indication. Not so with everyone in this film, however.

The film opens with the corporate director of the expedition—himself very comfortable with cave-diving and exploring—named Carl arriving to check on things with his girlfriend Victoria. Victoria is a mountain climber, too… though as we learn later, diving is not her forte. Ioann Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic in the two FANTASTIC FOUR films, 2005, 2007) plays Carl, and though I thought he was great as a stretchy superhero, he wasn’t too convincing in his role here. In fact, Gruffudd’s performance was pretty weak. I kept thinking he looked a lot like Paul Reiser in ALIENS (1986), in many more ways than just physical appearance as the film went on. Still, Reiser was great in ALIENS, Gruffudd was not in SANCTUM. His girlfriend, played by Alice Parkinson (X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, 2009) played her part decently, and was convincing as a stubborn jock itching for adventure. I want to give kudos to the other major supporting actor, and by far the best of them: Dan Wyllie as George, Frank’s long-time friend and exploration partner. Adding a bit of humor to the scenes he was in, he also came across as a real person, and played the part of George in a natural, easy manner.

The concept and setting of SANCTUM is original and interesting, but I have to admit it was a bit predictable overall. A small band of people caught by nature and using their wits to escape, or trying to—in this case, it’s a typhoon that hits base camp early and dumps so much water into the cave system it floods, forcing our heroes to find a new way out, or die a watery death. SANCTUM is THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) played out underground. The world even feels upside down, an effect common in caves and diving. I assume. People talk, you hear things. When things get nasty, we have the characters led with calm confidence by Frank, trying to keep ahead of the water. Some don’t make it, of course. Without horrible deaths where would the tension come from? Good question. Let’s talk about that for a moment.

I think this film might have worked better without so many people dying. Being trapped in a cave, underwater—that’s not tense enough for you? No, Hollywood needs a cast of potential dead people in disaster films—and that’s what SANCTUM becomes—a disaster movie, with a strong hero and some characters who start confident and strong but go to pieces and cause havoc. Unfortunately, with such a great chance to creep an audience out simply with this claustrophobic, underground, underwater world, it falls quickly into a “see who escapes alive” scenario. It’s been done before, and so there’s less tension, knowing most of the characters will bite the big one before all is said and done, than if the writers kept them all, or most of them, alive throughout the film, and working together to get through it all.

A few plot turns did not feel natural, actions the characters took but which real people, in a situation like this, simply would not do if their life was at stake. Linda pointed out one specific moment which bothered her. Victoria refused to wear the wet suit removed from a dead woman, preferring to risk hypothermia than do something so icky. This, from an experience mountain climber? No, she would have put the friggin’ thing on. Near the end, an action taken by a character (which I’ll not bother specifying for “spoiler” reasons) had the effect of “Oh, of course, this is the point where this person does this because it’s what they always do in these movies to make trouble for everyone else,” instead of “Oh, no, what is he doing? Stop!” Does that make sense? No? Ah, well. I’ll just say that Paul Reiser’s ALIENS character had a legitimate reason for turning on everyone.

In summary, SANCTUM was a visual treat. Not as good as other shot-for-3Dfilms like AVATAR, but far better than other films, like THE LAST AIRBENDER (2010) which were shot traditionally, then converted. Again, the overall experience might have been enhanced if we’d watched it in on an IMAX screen, so try that if you have the extra moolah to see this movie. The story is not the strongest or most original, so you likely won’t walk out of the theater completely blown away by SANCTUM. If you have a 3D television and glasses at home, wait for the Blu Ray version to come out and save some money for a better movie. Otherwise, if you got your taxes back and have the cash, it’s an enjoyable film to watch, if not a bit average. Better yet, use your refund to go to the Museum of Science’s OMNI theater and watch MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES (2008). At least then, when you’re done, you can wander over and look at the cool dinosaurs.