Movie Review: Sanctum 3D

SINKING FEELING: <i>Sanctum 3D</i>. Photo / Supplied

It's got James Cameron's endorsement and it's probably the first 3D scuba spelunking movie, ever. But despite visuals that make you wish a snorkel came with your viewing goggles, Sanctum is very much a B-flick and a frequently silly one at that.

Part of the problem is every time the actors take off their regulators or aren't trying to save themselves from a particularly deep and particularly watery grave as the New Guinea cave they are exploring becomes God's stormwater drain, the film itself starts seeming oxygen deprived - like can dialogue suffer the bends?

Can clichés start to bubble into the bloodstream of a story and cause premature brain death? Here's proof.

It doesn't help either that throughout as the diving team leader, Richard Roxburgh's over-acting seems to suck the air out of everybody's else's tanks, Rhys Wakefield is way too pretty to be in such a grim situation, and Ioan Gruffudd's duplicitous money man behind the expedition - a fixture in most of Cameron's works - is so smarmy you end up being irritated that the inevitable moment where his selfishness proves his undoing takes so long to arrive.

That said, if you put aside the characters and the story, the diving - and dying - bits are quite something to see.

But don't hold your breath for anything deeper.

LOWDOWN

Stars: 2.5/5
Cast: Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield, Ioan Gruffudd
Director: Alister Grierson
Running time: 108 mins
Rating: M Contains violence and offensive language.
Verdict: Deeply shallow thriller.

-TimeOut