New James Cameron movie..."Sanctum"

[DraftedByTheMan]

SPOILER ALERT. DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE.
I hope I have the characters names correct....
My wife asked me to see the movie with her as a Valentines Day date.
Here's my impression:
1. Enjoyable movie overall - mostly for the visuals, not the story.
2. Adverse reaction from my wife. She had a close call diving in Thailand and was shaking and crying during the drowning scenes. I tried to get her out of the theatre, but she insisted on staying. I don't think this will make her a better diver in the future.
3. I NEVER want to go diving with ANYONE who decides to drown me when I'm injured or ANYONE who requests to be drowned when they are injured. Can you tell me why the son wouldn't try to get a rescue party down that hole with the Japanese tank and then back up to save dad?
4. Again on point 3....was this a movie on euthanasia? I counted 2 outright suicides: Carl and Luko. Frank's was suicide/euthanasia/murder. JD's death was bizarre....it's a "mercy killing" since every bone in his body is broken - except his arm bones apparently since he was putting up quite a struggle to prevent his death. Judes seemed like an awfully panicky girl for someone who's an experienced diver (freaking out during the "squeeze" which damaged her hose, leading to her death).
5. Victoria's death. As much as I would like to have a pretty girl in a cave with me, I think Frank was right when he said Victoria made 3 mistakes...1. Coming into a cave dive with no diving experience. 2. Refusing the wear the wetsuit. 3. Using the knife near the rope. I'd also like to point out 3 mistakes Frank made. 1. Allowing Victoria into the cave. 2. Not insisting that Victoria wear the wetsuit. 3. Mentioning the 3 mistakes Victoria made in front of her boyfriend immediately after she gets killed. Ruined the "team spirit" to say the least....
6. Did I mention that if I get hurt - please leave me behind (in war movies, they give the guy a grenade). I might look badly hurt but you never know...maybe I'll feel better in an hour. Whatever you do....DON'T drown me!

 

[TSandM]

I'm not sure the euthanasia of the guy with the extensive trauma was the wrong call. With no pain medication available and NO chance at all of extricating him, it may well have been kind.

However, I'd MUCH rather die of blood loss or sepsis than of drowning, so if it were me with what amounts to a knife in my back, I'd rather get propped in a corner and left.

I also agree with you that anyone who is anywhere NEAR experienced enough to consider going through a no-mount restriction should NOT be the kind of person who panics just because their gear seems to be momentarily stuck. Panicking while trying to buddy-breathe on a FFM, and knowing there is no way that that procedure will get them back OUT through the restriction, that's another story.

One of the big lessons of the movie was that, in certain environments, you cannot afford to make very many mistakes, and losing your cool is the worst mistake you can make.

 

[Skydiver1]

. Panicking while trying to buddy-breathe on a FFM, and knowing there is no way that that procedure will get them back OUT through the restriction, that's another story.

.

Could they not buddy breathe up to the start of the restriction, and then one of them goes through without breathing to reach the "bailout tanks" on the other side. Also without equipment on, would they not get through alot faster.

 

[jimmy71]

well that would not have made the cheesy snuff film they had worked so hard to achieve. Besides, it is hard to have such bad dialogue with a reg in your mouth. That is why they had to be above water so much.

 

[Bogie]

Very disappointed in this Cameron produced movie.

Directing, script and acting were very poor. The inaccuracy of proper procedures and stable mental attitude was obnoxious.

Too bad, I was really looking forward to this movie.

 

[underwaterfrank]

Haven't seen the movie yet but keen to see it over the weekend. Not sure if the drowning scene is very graphic but if so let me know and then I probably better leave my friend at home. She'll probably have nightmares afterwards. I drowned several years ago and it scared her more than it did me.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Saw Sanctum twice:

I saw this film twice. The first time was with a group of tech/cave divers on a regular 3-D screen and the second time I watched alone in IMAX 3-D. I enjoyed it both times. While critics have sited a lack of character development, I question how complex we actually are in survival situations? The action begins quickly and doesn't stop until the end of the film. What character development occurs only has time in the beginning and during periods of rest. True, the characters could have started out a little less stereotypical, but the film captures your attention like war movies, horror movies, and other stories where the characters fight hard to survive.

My biggest criticism is that I believe audiences would welcome a little more science and a more accurate explanation of diving practices, risks, and injuries. For audiences who understand the engineering of the fictional starship USS Enterprise, the simplicity of diving physics and physiology can be explained in the same time it takes to create the same old melodrama. There wasn't a situation in the film that couldn't have been caused by a more realistic and appropriate accident. Also, I think the audience would have been able to understand and appreciate how stage diving is done, how gases accelerate decompression, and why bailout is needed with rebreathers. The rebreather emergency which lead to buddy breathing with a full face mask on the loop could have been just as exciting if the divers needed to buddy breathe from a bailout bottle. Movie-makers don't give audiences the credit they deserve.

A little movie trivia:

Our own Agnes Milowka was in the film as a stunt double for the women. I'm guessing it was Agnes when there seemed to be either skill or drama.

The actors were trained by 4 TDI instructor trainers and Brian Carney of SDI/TDI approved a special open water training course which allowed for the actor-students to perform skills on rebreathers in overheads etc. Only one actor had done any scuba diving prior to the film.

The "true story" as was mentioned was taken from a situation that happened to Andrew Wight and Wes Skiles during the making of a documentary called Nullarbor Dreaming. A rain storm created a cave collapse that trapped the producer of Sanctum, Andrew Wight, Wes Skiles and the rest of their team inside the Nullarbor cave system in Australia for two days. The film is very loosely based upon this occurrence.

National Geographic TV aired Sanctum: The Real Story prior to the film's release highlighting the Wight/Skiles expedition and the making of the Cameron/Wight film. That's worth checking out for an appreciation of how the set was created and recreated for the actors.

James Cameron wanted to make this film for two reasons: First, he wanted to show that 3-D could enhance the storyline of a film that wasn't a big budget production such as Avatar. The cameras from Avatar were employed in the making of this film. Second, he has always wanted to do a story that focused upon the relationship of a father and a son and this film gave him that opportunity.

Conclusion:

True, this film isn't an Oscar winner, but what I liked about it was its simplicity. Often, I'll leave a theater and within two hours I'll have lost the chronological order of events in a film due to flashbacks, flash forwards, dream sequences, and complex twists and turns designed to be red-herrings to keep the audience in suspense. This film was linear and did a great job building suspense in an attempt to move from their blocked egress to the hope of discovering another exit.

Needed to add:

I returned to this thread after having just watched the movie, Frozen, on DVD on demand this evening. It was very suspenseful and well-done. If you liked Sanctum you'll love Frozen and if you didn't like Sanctum frozen delivers better acting and character development about 3 skiers trapped on a chairlift. Read the review here: http://horror-movie-a-day.blogspot.com/2010/09/blu-ray-review-frozen.html

 

[diverdoug1]

I loved Frozen, but hated Sanctum. I ski and I cave dive. Both Frozen and Sanctum failed to suspend my disbelief, but Frozen had good acting (also a hot girl and wolves - hard to beat : Sanctum had a bad story, unrealistic diving practices, a cowardly portrayal of cave divers, and plot holes out the wazoo. I still think any cave diver will still feel compelled to see this crappy flick (come on, how many movies are made about our sport?). I still feel that it was a real boner of a movie. The best part was when I spotted Agnes in a quick cut.

 

[scuba nube]

I hated this movie. He could have taken the true story and made it an epic movie of survival. Why he turned it into an underwater drowning,euthanasia movie I will never understand. I made the mistake of taking my husband who doesn't dive, is afraid of drowning becuase he almost did when he was 12 to this movie. He was also very uncomfortable and isn't at all interested in any future dive trips. The acting was also terrible!

 

[watboy]

Spoilers...

GF out of town, so I got to catch a matinée of Sanctum (GF made it clear she'll never go diving w me again if I take her to a movie where divers die). Some random thoughts:
- Knew that Judes was going to die at the beginning. Its the adventure tragedy cliche to open with a nice leisurely pair enjoying the day... when suddenly a random accident claims a life... all to drive home that this is really a dangerous activity. See Cliffhanger and Vertical Limit.
- I would never go diving, or get an doughnut with Frank. He says two things in the whole movie. 1) They died because of the choices they made and 2) lets rest.
- Abyss remains my favorite movie with FFM's