Eye Candy #544 - "Sanctum"

Sanctum:  The old adage “swim in caves, die in caves” is alive and well in this film about cave divers trapped deep underground in Papua New Guinea.  Based loosely on the real experiences of screenwriter Andrew Wight (Wight has been trapped in caves, but without the benefit of the body count here), this film also seems to have characters based on real individuals.  For example, Richard Roxburgh plays team leader Frank McGuire, who positively reeks of Bill Stone, a real cave diver known for his audacity as well as his ruthlessness (read “Blind Descent” for more about Stone).  It’s up to McGuire and his estranged son Josh (played by Rhys Wakefield)  to lead the rest of the trapped cavers out before they run out of food, air, and light.  Ioan Gruffud is here as Carl, their American backer.  Technically it’s a well-made film and a good-looking picture.  The cave sets they were able to build and submerge look great.  The plot, however, is nothing to write home about and most of the characters are little more than broad sketches.  And that’s unfortunate because even a cursory exam of the cave diving scene reveals a whole community of colorful characters, just as in mountain climbing circles.   Most of the characters here serve merely as victims-in-waiting for drowning, falling, falling-drowning, and drowning-falling.  And the faux-mysticism of the title (means "sacred place") is dealt with only cursorily.   This is a middle-of-the-road time waster, neither good nor bad.  Woodchuck sez, “If you need to kill 108 minutes.”