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February 05, 2011

SANCTUM

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ColeSmithey.comIt's unforgivable that the filmmakers fail to scratch the surface of 3D's potential to put the audience inside Papua, New Guinea's vast Esa'ala cave system where a group of professional cave-divers are trapped by a giant storm. 

Full of artificial exposition and rinky-dink dialogue that sounds like it was written by an elementary school student, "Sanctum" is a body-count slasher flick where characters self-destruct as much as they become casualties of Mother Nature.

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James Cameron has stamped his producing imprimatur so large on "Sanctum" that some audiences will be hoodwinked into believing he directed it. Rather, 3D-neophyte-director Alister Grierson is just as much to blame. Grierson peaks early with an impressive computer-graphic diagram of the cave's interior.

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The mathematically drawn perspective utilizes the 3D effect to give intimate dimension to the cave's labyrinthine shape. It's a pity the filmmakers didn't see fit to use the perspective as a way to keep track of our ever-diminishing divers as they go deeper in search for a way out. Ioan Gruffudd gives a truly bizarre performance as Carl, the rich adventurer whose money is paying for the expedition.

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Gruffudd plays the role so campy that you might wonder what he was drinking. Hardscrabble Australian cave-master Frank (well played by Richard Roxburgh) is in charge of the expedition. Frank's son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) proves to be a key ingredient on the mission. "Sanctum" should be an intensely claustrophobic adventure movie; it's not.

 Rated R. 108 mins.

2 Stars

Cozy Cole

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