Tuesday 8 February 2011

Sanctum

If I remember the date correctly, it was 21st December 2010 when I visited my first site for stalactites and stalagmites called the Ngigli Caves en route from Margaret River to Freemantle. We walked down about 50 metres into the earth I am guessing. At the lowest point which changes guard once every 4 hours (coz you are not allowed to stay below for longer than that time), the lady mentioned something which came back to me in a flash when I was watching Sanctum last nite. She said, “We are but a small speck”. In the same vein but with an impact and a situation that is vastly magnified, Frank (Richard Roxburgh) says to the rest of his team when all the chips seem to be down, “There is no god out here. This place doesn’t give a rats arse about us. We are just bits of dust passing through”. Sanctum is littered which several such slap on the face dialogues. One more that comes to mind is, “Panic is the vulture that sits on your shoulder”.


Frank is leading a team of half crazy nitwits whose thrill in life comes from the what most of them describe as “going where no one else has gone before” – not like Star Trek mind you. But think about it. Most of the other frontiers in life have been been already explored right? The only ones left are underground. Spelunking (cave diving) is even more unpredictable that most other adventure sport. It is a combination of mountain climbing, rappelling, abseiling and one could throw in diving as well for good measure. Things seem to be going quite well for the set of cave divers who have been @ the South Pacific's Esa-ala (Papua New Guinea to be precise) for 34 days now. Some of them haven’t seen daylight for the past 2 weeks. So the fatigue is getting to them for sure but they are hell bent on cracking the entire system of Esa-Ala at the earliest. The core team includes Frank’s son Joshua (Rhyss Wakefield), their mad financier Carl (Ioan Gruffudd), his girlfriend Victoria (Alice Parkinson), the systems expert Crazy George (Dan Wyllie) and Judes (Allison Cratchley). Things do take a nasty turn when a cyclone comes in and floods the entire team out leaving the team with no other choice but to find their way out. En route they are pitted against their worst adversaries to date – Nature and The Unknown.

One must credit Sanctum with great advertising and a trailer that led most people to believe that it’s a James Cameron movie. Although it is produced by Cameron, the director is Alister Grierson who is a movie old but has picked up a topic that hasn’t been explored too much earlier and comes out on tops. I would love to watch the making of Sanctum to actually figure out how some of the underwater shots and those in the crevices have been taken. Sanctum is a movie that comes to you straight out of a picture postcard. Its beautifully shot and has all the right ingredients for an edge of the seat thriller. You will not complain about being short on action for sure. Warning however that it does get gory in parts and is not meant for the light hearted. Well made and must watch for the action fan – 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1483905305/

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