I slightly revised my less than favorable review of the movie Sanctum that
I posted here earlier this week and posted it on TAG-Net (Tennessee,
Alabama, and Georgia) yesterday. Here's are the two responses from TAG-Net this
morning:
1) Sanctimonius
By: David Drake (Falkville, Alabama)
I'll second Bill Steele's review of the movie. Between the F-bombs there
was a movie about cave divers who break every rule regarding rescue and
safe caving practices.
4) A response to Bruce and Bill's review of "Sanctum"
By: Dean Wiseman (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Great post on TAG-Net, both Bruce and Bill
I came away from the film with the sense that they were just one inch
away from having a really great sport-adventure movie. The one "inch"
(I hyperbolize, for sure) was the use of standard Hollywood plot
devices. Between ignorant writers/directors, and hyper-conservative
dollar-minded producers, it was probably a lost cause to think they'd depart
from
the classics.
Prime example: Sure it makes sense that a silver-spoon millionaire goes
murderously insane on the Titanic when he loses his girlfriend, but in a
cave, versus a guy who had no part in the issue? C'mon...
Another missed opportunity was the fact that they had a first-rate movie
"star" with regards to their cave. A few years back, there was an
intriguing movie (so I thought) called "The Interpreter," starring
Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. One of the "stars" of that film was the
U.N. Building in New York, shown in all its post-modern glory. Seems to
me, a little more emphasis on a Golandrinas-meets-Cueva Cheve-meets-the
Gunung Mulu would have put this movie, visually, on a level with
"Avatar." Anyone else notice the forest of 2-3m soda straws at the deep
campsite? Damn!
So... so close.
-Dean
