Sanctum

Name: Sanctum
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Released: February 4, 2011
Duration: 103 min
Rating: 42
Cast: Allison Cratchley, Christopher Baker, Rhys Wakefield

2011

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 113 Ratings

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5.1	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 113 Ratings

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Sanctum

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: February 4, 2011 | R

Starring: Allison Cratchley, Christopher Baker, Rhys Wakefield

Summary: Master diver Frank McGuire has explored the South Pacific's Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank's team--including 17-year-old son Josh and financier Carl Hurley--are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out. Soon, theyMaster diver Frank McGuire has explored the South Pacific's Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank's team--including 17-year-old son Josh and financier Carl Hurley--are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out. Soon, they are confronted with the unavoidable question: Can they survive, or will they be trapped forever? (Universal Pictures)
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Director: Alister Grierson

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 103 min

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Critic Reviews

Adam Markovitz

Feb 3, 2011

As we go deeper into the cave, walls squeezing, water rising, the movie has a narrative pull as sure as gravity. Read full review

Tasha Robinson

Feb 3, 2011

While Sanctum is frustratingly familiar, it's easy to get caught up in the action. Read full review

Empire Nick de Semlyen

Feb 5, 2011

Workmanlike suspenser, with plenty of cold water but sparse chills. When it comes to James Cameron scuba thrillers, "The Abyss" still has the edge. Read full review

Ty Burr

Feb 3, 2011

A muscular Australian B-movie down to the thin characters and boilerplate dialogue. Read full review

Keith Uhlich

Feb 4, 2011

This 3-D cave-diving adventure plays on a lot of fears, so avoid it if you have an aversion to claustrophobia, drowning or really bad acting. Read full review

Michael Rechtshaffen

Feb 2, 2011

Banal dialogue, over-modulated performances and melodramatic scoring combine forces to sink the stirringly photographed proceedings quicker than that treacherous flash flood. Read full review

Marc Savlov

Feb 3, 2011

Those audiences who have complained about the clunky exposition and mawkish emotional dialogue in Cameron's films will discover the "King of the World"'s own dramatic talents to be on par with the Bard in comparison to the shouty, over-emoted hokum on display here. Read full review

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User Reviews

410MaXiMuS

Apr 16, 2012

This movie isn't a 10 - I'm only giving it that to balance the score because people are hating on this movie for no reason. The acting is kinda cheesy at the beginning but it gets better once the action startes. The 3D is veryy well done and there are some very tense sequences. It's a 7 / 10 for me.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Mewtwo465

Jul 2, 2011

Note: This is identical to my review of this movie on Rotten Tomatoes. So here it is: This movie was a surprisingly good one. Now I have to say around the first half hour of the film the dialogue is pretty bad. There is a hell lot of swearing and in reality nobody would really curse thatNote: This is identical to my review of this movie on Rotten Tomatoes. So here it is: This movie was a surprisingly good one. Now I have to say around the first half hour of the film the dialogue is pretty bad. There is a hell lot of swearing and in reality nobody would really curse that much. But after the cheesy half hour ends and the real movie kicks in it's actually pretty decent. The 3D in the film is better than most I should say. Since it's by James Cameron. Now to state my opinion I have to say this movie was better than Avatar for me. The story of Avatar was bad even though I liked the film. But if the dialogue wasn't so cheesy in this film then the story would get perfect marks. Now the characters are sort of one dimensional but as the movie swiftly improves they become more realistic. And that's what makes this film so good. I went to see this last night on my birthday party with three of my mates and they said they really liked the film. Now I liked it a lot too. The reason being is that the start of the film you're probably thinking, "Oh hurry up already I want to see the action!", or something like that. And by the end of the film you would be completely satisfied. Because that's exactly what you get. Now I'm not going to spoil anything here but all I'm saying now is that there is one survivor. And I don't know why but I sort of knew that there would a sole survivor so during the film I was thinking, "Who's going to escape safely?", and you're probably going to be thinking that as well. So in other words this film is somewhat suspenseful. Now I'm running out of things to say here so here's the rest. Since the movie is in 3D, and the 3D is the best 3D I've seen in ages, the film sort of drags you in with the divers. You feel so claustrophobic during the underwater escape scenes and by the time the movie ends not only the survivor gets a huge breath of fresh air but so do you. You feel so relived and happy for the character by the end of the film so by the end you'll probably be thinking, "That was worth it!", and you'll probably never forget it. Another thing I should note that the film actually seems much longer than it actually is. Instead of being one hour and forty five minutes to me it actually seemed like two hours and forty five minutes. So time doesn't actually fly when you're having fun. It slows down a bit. And well that's the reason I had a hell lot of fun with this movie! So to say what's left I have to say the film is beautifully photographed and filmed. The film looks brilliant. It's graphics and effects are just amazing. But that's not really surprising since this is made from the guy who made Avatar right? So to end this review I'm giving this movie an 8/10 for it's brilliant scenery, effects and tension but also for it's cheesy dialogue and slightly cardboard characters. So that's my review for Sanctum 3D and this is Mewtwo465 saying goodbye!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

tdkDallas

Feb 6, 2011

I am not sure why most everyone is hating on this film so badly. It was just as cheesy as I was expecting from seeing the commercials. We both enjoyed it. The only thing missing was a cave-dwelling animal attack.

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

Zeph

Feb 6, 2011

This movie is nothing but visuals. We live in an age where visuals are simply supposed to look that good anyway, its like a standard. It was a real upset of a movie in comparison to what James Cameron has done in the past. (Whether you liked his movies or not, it makes no difference)This movie is nothing but visuals. We live in an age where visuals are simply supposed to look that good anyway, its like a standard. It was a real upset of a movie in comparison to what James Cameron has done in the past. (Whether you liked his movies or not, it makes no difference) Although I do say that lame stories are kind of a specialty of him, just like Sanctum was. 2/5… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Soulshock

Feb 6, 2012

What a painful movie. Just finished watching it and wish I hadn't. Whatchamacallit green screen is noticeable in some parts, which adds to unrealistic atmosphere. But that's not worst of course, while the main older guy is a great actor, the rest is just forgettable. Some gory/bloody scenesWhat a painful movie. Just finished watching it and wish I hadn't. Whatchamacallit green screen is noticeable in some parts, which adds to unrealistic atmosphere. But that's not worst of course, while the main older guy is a great actor, the rest is just forgettable. Some gory/bloody scenes make you flinch and look away instead of bite your nails. Full of painful scenes you just want to skip, and I did.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

movieboy

Feb 25, 2011

The swarm of negative reviews should warn potential viewers. Without the 3d effects we're left with something akin to the old Saturday morning kids adventure flicks. It is really hard to imagine that this came from the same creative mind as Avatar. It's so cheesy, such wooden acting andThe swarm of negative reviews should warn potential viewers. Without the 3d effects we're left with something akin to the old Saturday morning kids adventure flicks. It is really hard to imagine that this came from the same creative mind as Avatar. It's so cheesy, such wooden acting and stilted dialogue. Best unintentionally funny line - "I'm not wearing the wet suit of a dead person!" So there. Maybe if you could actually care about the characters it could have generated some emotional involvement. Only saving grace, some native folks got paid for working on this abysmal production.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

CraigFortune

Feb 5, 2011

what a Terrible Movie. Waste of 11.00 dollars. James Cameron should be a shame of putting his good name on this awful movie. I voted it a 0. movie was east to predict the out come

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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