Sanctum

SANCTUM (2011) - Feb. 5, 2011
Hmmm... not so good.  It's kind of mystifying that James Cameron would put his name on such a subpar film, but then I guess all the underwater exploration was enough to make him interested -- shoddy plot and characters be damned.  Director Alister Grierson did a decent enough job with the action stuff -- the parts with the characters in peril were fine, if nothing particularly special.  The big problem here was with the script; the characters were all completely bland and unmemorable, making it tough to root for them when stuff starts to go bad.  The performances were mostly pretty terrible (Richard Roxburgh was pretty much the only one in the bunch who actually gave an okay performance), though it's quite likely that it's the script at fault rather than the actors themselves -- the dialogue ranges from barely acceptable to cringe-inducingly bad.  The first half hour or so was almost completely unwatchable, though the film does pick up a bit once stuff starts happening.  The film also improves once the cast gets whittled down enough for the film to focus on the father/son dynamic between the two main characters (the only two half-way decent characters in the bunch, despite the son's blandness).  Given JC's involvment with the film, this should have been so much better.  Also: 3D continues to suck.  **