Cave, The

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

It's increasingly hard to work up a fright on the screen these days, but even if The Cave doesn't exactly terrify, it's fun and looks great.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Though The Cave really, really tries to be scary from as many directions as possible, it fails to hold much in reserve and never manages to build suspense.

LA Weekly Tim Grierson

Despite the striking underwater photography and production values, much of this feels like Alien: Stalagmite Edition. But if it isn't original, The Cave does demonstrate that you can always elevate threadbare material by keeping your ambitions modest.

Village Voice R. Emmet Sweeney

Spare and single-minded, The Cave is an insistently entertaining piece of pulp.

Philadelphia Inquirer Chris Hewitt

It's not original, but unlike some of this summer's movies (such as The Island and Stealth), The Cave knows its place. Its job is to deliver a few jolty thrills and a couple of laughs and wrap things up before it starts to get too dumb.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

Sci-fi horror aficionados, however, might want to look elsewhere for their scares, as they're unlikely to find any here. Fright-wise, The Cave is a dry hole.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It's an undistinguished effort in which none of the actors distinguish themselves.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Involves a team of divers exploring a vast cave system, an appropriate setting given the hollowness of the story and acting.

TV Guide Ken Fox

"Alien" redux.

Variety Robert Koehler

Refreshing strokes of science-fact in the early sections give way to action strictly from the Ridley Scott-James Cameron playbook, but without a powerful helmer behind the camera or a memorable cast in front.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The Cave looks pretty cool - if you're into stalagmites, stalactites and that sort of thing -and the action is nonstop once they're in the hole. Unfortunately, there are no reference points in the dark to let us know where everyone is in relation to each other and to the monsters, and, therefore, there's little suspense.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

Have you ever noticed how it's always the worst horror movies that go really far out of their way to lay the groundwork for a sequel?

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The writers supply character traits that seem to point toward a pay-off but never reach one. People all end up as tight-lipped, indistinguishable automatons who plummet 50 feet down jagged rocks with scarcely a scratch.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The screenplay is thin, the dialogue lacks nuance and the acting is often laughable.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A bottomless pit of lame characters, horror-film cliches and improbable monsters.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

There's no reason to see this film in a theater -- you'll hate yourself for paying full price. Plus, you'll need beer, and lots of it, to appreciate the movie properly.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The utter lack of tension or suspense is as dumbfounding as Hunt's blender approach to editing, which purees action scenes into incoherent mashes of image confetti.

Premiere Ryan Devlin

I suspect that there’s an audience for this film. I’ve heard that they like "mindless" entertainment.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A cheesy, often unintentionally funny, direct-to-video-caliber knockoff of "Aliens" that couldn't be more shallow.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It's ultimately just a rigorous personal training film made by people who don't seem to like movies or the people who go to them.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

The Cave is National Geographic mixed with Roger Corman, and by the end you'll probably be wishing you saw "Red Eye" instead.

The New York Times Laura Kern

Not only is the film dreadfully dull: every time something potentially exciting does occur, the scenes are so muddled and chaotic that it is impossible to make out what is happening.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Bonuses all around, but a double one for Perabo, the only cast member to survive this dull-as-dirt Cave with her actorly integrity intact.

Washington Post Teresa Wiltz

The Cave isn't just a bad movie, it's a very, very, very bad movie, so bad that it can't even redeem itself by turning into high camp.