Movie Review: Sanctum - Diving In Caves Is Dangerous

Sanctum

Movie: Sanctum
Starring: Richard Roxborough, Ioan Gruffud, Rhys Wakefield, Alice Parkinson
Director: Alister Grierson

The hype surrounding Sanctum keeps saying that this is a James Cameron film. They even filmed interviews with him talking about the film. The honest truth though is that this is a film neither directed by or written by James Cameron. The film probably did get made though because of Cameron's influence and love of all things nature. The movie is inspired by a true story and credits one of the actual survivors as a writer. Maybe this lends credibility but in reality the movie is more "inspired" than it is "true". An adventurous team is making their way through Esa-ala an unexplored cave in the South Pacific. The team consits of Carl (Ioan Gruffud), a thrill seeking millionaire who is financing the project. Frank (Richard Roxborough) an experienced diver with a do whatever it takes to survive attitude. Frank's estranged son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) is also along for the trip although reluctantly due issues with his father. Carl's girlfriend Victoria (Alice Parkinson) an experienced climber but inexperienced diver is also on board for reasons unknown. After a storm hits the island unexpectedly,  the group is forced to exit the cave by diving deeper into the unknown.

This movie begins very clumsily with awkward  and silly dialogue substituting for real character development. It also fails to setup much of a motivation for the expedition. There is no scientific reason for it and no commercial gain to be had either. The only real motivation is the adventure itself. Once the movie gets going though it's easy to forgive these faults.

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Top Five Most Overrated Movies Of All Time

1. Gone With The Wind

Starring: Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh

Touted as a civil war epic that closely follows history but in reality it is a four hour soap opera. There are some parts that are true to history although it's hard not to notice how much they have romanticized the south. For a film about the civil war it is odd that their aren't any scenes depicting slavery in the fields. All the slaves depicted simply adore Ms. Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) and treat her as if they were her mother. I guess you could say that this is a product a when this movie was made but still it's a bit much. 

Then we have the romance between Scarlett and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) if you could call it that. She spends most of her time finding people to use and he treats her like a stupid little kid. Honestly, the melodrama of their on again off again relationship gets very tiresome after four hours. We're supposed to rooting for these two dysfunctional people? Ms. Scarlett is not a likable heroine at all and Rhett is only slightly more tolerable. By the time Clark Gable utters his famous line at the end modern audiences will have the same thought about this film.

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Movie Review: Avatar - The Biggest Movie Of All Time

Movie: Avatar
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang.


For all the hype it is a pretty basic story Jake Sully played by Sam Worthington is given the opportunity to travel to Pandora and take his twin brother's place on a scientific mission.  He's working for a mercenary group sent to extract valuable energy producing minerals from the planet. There is only one problem for them the native creatures and people the Navi are hostile towards them. As part of the Avatar project Jake Sully enters this world through his Avatar body a cloned Navi that can be controlled by his thoughts. This way they hope to learn  more about the Navi and how they can get what they want from them. Soon though Jake doesn't know exactly who's side he should be on or where he really belongs.

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