Sanctum

Watching the last fourth of this film is pure agony. Sanctum is a spelunking variation on a mountaineering drama in which a band of adventurers fight for their lives while addressing their personal relationships. The difference lies in the fact that the characters annoy us rather than make us root for them; instead of breathtaking mountain exteriors, we’re stuck in a cave that just gets wider and narrower by turns, and we don’t get to listen to any nice Zimmer or Howard. Add in a few clichéd scenes and a lack of ideas and you have an exercise in mediocrity. The viewer spoiled by goose-bump-inducing movies like The Descent will be disappointed and the viewer yearning for a realistic outdoor drama without supernatural elements will be bored. You’ll notice the 3D about twice, when it makes the cave appear huge in comparison to the little divers (they look like fish in a bowl :-) Otherwise, it’s completely unnecessary. (08/03/2011)

I have a weak spot for underground spaces, especially if they are beautiful. If I was brave and physically gifted enough, I would be a spelunker, but I’m neither so I watch films… Sanctum is a typical survival drama with everything that goes with it, but the performances like out of a cheap TV adaptation unfortunately bring it down. Also, the wanderings through the cave are not very clear, but it was fun enough. (24/02/2011)

I love these survival stories based on a real event, where the character declares that everyone has to save light, and then the three cavers light each other in the face with their halogens in one square meter of space. Only the appearance of giant man-eating olms that would eliminate the entire staff early on would help. (09/08/2014)

I don't know what it was, maybe I was too groggy by the late night (or rather very early morning) hour I watched Sanctum, but I certainly didn't find the film as awful as it might have seemed. Sure, there are a lot of clichés (the flashlight in the boar's tooth...) and the main young actor deserves a slap in the head, but I really enjoyed it. Why, you ask? The film has a charismatic actor in the main adult role, who was really a tough guy (and reminded me a lot of Radek Brzobohatý), beautiful cave exteriors (or interiors?) and magical cinematography, Hirschfelder's music, omnipresent tension (the passage through the narrows, brrr) and last but not least the gradual deaths of the characters, which were often unexpected and in at least two cases really shocking for me. I’m rounding up the three and a half stars. (08/04/2013)

James Cameron likes underwater filming, which suited him well during the filming of "Titanic," but especially in the movies "Titanic Secrets 3D" and "Mysterious Depths 3D." "Sanctum" is not a documentary film and it is not an epic romantic story either. "Sanctum" should be a thriller, but I think the label "adventure film" suits it better. Cameron was probably convinced to produce it only because it would be filmed in truly unique locations. This should be enough for the audience, as otherwise the movie is completely empty. If it weren't for some nice underground shots, "Sanctum" couldn't offer anything at all. The story is about a unique cave being discovered, in which a group of explorers gets trapped. It somewhat resembles the movie "The Descent," but without the creatures and, of course, without any atmosphere. Instead, "Sanctum" brings a whole series of unbelievable clichés, just like Cameron's recent personal project "Avatar." I have a feeling that Cameron started focusing on films that would knock viewers out with their form, completely resigning from the screenplay. I'm afraid he will confirm this with his next film, where he will be credited as the director. If it turns out to be "Avatar 2," I am probably rightfully afraid. Ioan Gruffudd delivers a very poor performance again, making "Sanctum" sink even deeper. A truly bad attempt that ultimately didn't even succeed in its form. In that case, I would rather recommend the movie "A Lonely Place to Die," which I myself didn't love, but it deals with a similar theme, handles it more suspensefully, and is able to make use of the environment and perfectly captivate with nature, which in this case are hills and rocks. The underground cave in "Sanctum" also offered an interesting environment, but it was painfully underutilized. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/08/jane-eyre-ekologicka-afrika-cislo.html (24/02/2013)