Not much effort is expended on getting to know the team lead by master explorer Frank (Richard Roxburgh), who uses “cave” as a verb and who has spent so much time in the unplumbed depths of the Esa-ala Caves of Papua, New Guinea, he seems to have lost all ability for human empathy. It often provokes unintended laughter for its run-on stream of machoisms: “This cave’s not gonna beat me! … There’s no God down here! … Panic is a vulture that sits on your shoulder!” The bad news is that the screenplay by John Garvin and Andrew Wight, reportedly based on Wight’s real-life experience, is equally boxed in.

A group of extreme “cavers” are trapped inside a vast underground labyrinth adjacent to the South Pacific and they have to find a way out. Sanctum succeeds as escapist entertainment on more than one level.

But the dictum doesn’t apply to people watching this submersible 3-D thriller, which is executive produced by James Cameron and directed by his Aussie protégé, Alister Grierson.įor much of the film, and despite groan-worthy dialogue that often takes you right out of the picture, you’ll likely be holding your breath in genuine suspense. Whether that’s actually true may be debatable. The first rule of diving, we learn in Sanctum, is never to hold your breath.

Starring Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Parkinson and Dan Wyllie.

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