SANCTUM

SANCTUM (Rated R for profanity, violence, peril, some drinking & sexually related incidents):  With the month of February we can expect studios to dust off their shelves and, before turning them into video releases, spill out their losers before the Academy winners will then (we hope) move from "limited" showings to a wider audience in the hinterlands.

To increase sales, "Sanctum" is being touted as a James Cameron film.  Truth is, all he did was offer (for a price) the use of his specially constructed 3D undersea cameras - and, to be honest, they contribute the only satisfying interest for viewers.  Certainly not the hopelessly egregious plot nor stock lines like the optimistic reply to a cautionary professionals concern, "What could possibly go wrong?" That, along with other easily forgettable lines about God not existing deep down in caves, accompanied by struggling grunts and groans with enough gnashing of teeth to wreak horror from any professional dentist.

The plot begins jauntily among a group of semi-pros and rank amateurs heading deep into uncharted jungle territory where a gigantic funnel-like hole in the earth draws them to a caving experience that proves that things can go wrong - morbidly, frighteningly wrong. Problems develop with the fact that there's a serious, ongoing father/son antagonism, with flippant, carefree son demonstrating in every possible way his dislike for father-pro, including the admission to this highly dangerous sport a buddy & his totally clueless girlfriend, who accompany them on the kind of experience no one should enter without serious training.   Sure enough, tensions mount, emotions & inexperience make for deadly errors, as the group's number gradually, tragically diminishes, with one question remaining:  who will live to escape the grueling obstacles they placed before themselves? 

The abysmal script from Andrew Wight & John Garvin is matched by Alister Grierson's all-too-casual direction.  He seems to have no creative ideas for fleshing out the cardboard characters who must undergo the 109-minutes of roller coaster incidents that once graced any 15-minute action serial, from Perilous Pauline to Flash Gordon.  You know: someone explains the dangers of getting the bends, and before the sequence is out - someone gets the bends!  On & onŠ

  Shot off the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, the visuals are frequently stunning.  But even PBS documentaries can match that - and they don't need the embarrassingly bad dramatic trappings and confusing editing to flesh them out.  (Grade:  D+)