Product Details

• Actors: Richard Roxburgh, Alice Parkinson
• Directors: Alister Grierson
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Dubbed: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Rogue Pictures
• DVD Release Date: June 7, 2011
• Run Time: 109 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (132 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003Y5H51K
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,971 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Sanctum" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If there's an undersea adventure with high-tech equipment, macho posturing, and lots of underwater photography, you know James Cameron must be swimming around the vicinity. Add the fact that Sanctum was released to theaters in 3-D, and it's clinched. Cameron served as executive producer to this crazy tale of a cave-diving expedition forced to improvise when a typhoon inundates their New Guinea location. (The film, shot in Australia, is allegedly based on a true event by co-screenwriter Andrew Wight, but it might be safe to conclude that the original incident was a jumping-off point for the high melodrama on display here.) A globetrotting billionaire (Ioan Gruffudd, of Fantastic Four) is underwriting this exploration of a hidden cave maze, which explains why he gets to bring his girlfriend (Alice Parkinson) along. As a measure of their thrill-seeking habits, we are told they met on an Everest climb. The cave-diving boss is a crusty old pro (Richard Roxburgh), who is rough on his underlings and even rougher on his teenage son (Rhys Wakefield); naturally, the cataclysm that follows will be an occasion for some extreme father-son fence mending. As cornball as these elements are, and as generally toneless as director Alister Grierson's ear is with the dialogue scenes, Sanctum does work up some bona fide thrills: the sheer power of water is unleashed at a few memorable spots, as is the panic of losing an oxygen tank at a crucial moment. It's also pretty brutal, with a steep body count and a few grotesque bits of bodily injury. It ought to be easy to dismiss Sanctum as a silly piece of boy's adventure, but--curse you, Cameron!--one must admit that the thing is awfully effective. --Robert Horton

Product Description

From executive producer James Cameron (Avatar) comes a thrilling underwater adventure based on true events. Master diver Frank McGuire leads a team-including his 17-year-old son-to explore the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on Earth. But when a tropical storm cuts off their only escape route, the team must work together to find their way through an uncharted and dangerous underwater labyrinth to make it out alive. With time running out, can they survive, or will they be trapped forever?

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 61 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not very deep, but the dive is exciting February 16, 2011

By Jason VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Based on a real life, near death caving experience, Sanctum is a thriller that squeezes claustrophobic audiences into tight, dark spaces, and forces all viewers to imagine and evaluate their personal fortitude if put in a precarious situation.

Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh), a professional cave diver compared to Jacques Cousteau and Neil Armstrong, is on a caving/cave-diving expedition with his highly trained team and his mercurial son Josh (Rhys Wakefield). Exploring the Esaala Caves in Papua New Guinea, the team has to traverse thousands of meters of virgin caves in order to ultimately find a connection to the sea. The eccentric financier, Carl (Ioan Gruffudd), with experience sky diving, caving, and cave diving, stalag-might have a problem with an imminent typhoon that threatens the expedition. The team is in over their heads when Mother Nature expedites the timeline; and they must navigate an underwater labyrinth in order to survive.

Similar to a real surfer watching Point Break, a rock climber watching Cliffhanger, or a skydiver watching...Point Break, there are plenty of technicalities to nitpick. The point, however, is entertainment, not a documentary. While utterly predictable during most moments, the movie nonetheless whitens knuckles and squeezes air from lungs. Beautifully rendered and lit, the cinematography had to naturally extend a little creative license in order to capture some of the brilliant underwater scenes. Particularly thrilling were the wide-angle cave diving shots and the crystal clear caverns. If pristine, unexplored worlds, alien to the average human eye were intended, then kudos are warranted.

While I enjoyed the script (regardless of predictability), the dialogue was weak at times.... The worst moment was during a particularly harrowing moment, when water was flooding a portion of the cave system, young Josh declares to his father, "The cave is flooding." Department of Redundancy Department calling. The lines not withstanding, the emotional stress on the key players is appropriate but tired. Of course the father and son butt heads. Yep, the son transforms during the film and accepts responsibility. Does someone make an honorable sacrifice to aid the team? Guaranteed. I suppose some spokes are necessary for the wheel.

Ultimately I enjoyed Sanctum. As a scuba diver the underwater scenes excited me, but I'm quite sure avid cave divers won't be using in for PR purposes.

Jason Read more ›

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME 3D Great Quality September 26, 2011

By KAREN

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

Although some people called this movie crap I just can't imagine why. I even hesitated on purchasing this due to the reviews. Maybe they did not see the 3D version? This movie in 3D is the highest quality 3D I've seen - wow ever actually! It beats all these 3D movies - Avatar, Thor, Narnia, etc. The quality of the 3D has the birds flying out of your TV and the water flowing from your TV.. truly amazing! I thought the story was right on, they did what they had to do to survive. I'm a certified scuba diver and trust me, they followed all the protocols of survival. It was crazy to buddy breathe with a full facemask, that was a desperate attempt for survival for sure, but in the end the outcome was spot on. Great show thru & thru. I even watched it back to back because the 3D graphics were so good I wanted to take it all in again! EXCELLENT choice, great movie!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sanctum 3D September 27, 2011

By NVPAT

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

This movie was very exciting. The 3D effects were great. I was holding my breath in the under water scenes, it was that realistic. I will be watching it again which is not what I usually do with movies.

44 of 59 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Colossal Mess July 5, 2011

By Eric Wilson TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

If you're like me, you saw the trailer for this film and the prominent mention of James Cameron as executive producer. If you're like me, you loved Cameron's "The Abyss," and wondered if there would be something here to love. If you're like me, you'll regret even spending the dollar at Redbox to find out otherwise.

"Sanctum" is centered around a team of cave explorers in Papua New Guinea (actually filmed in Australia) as they go deep into a cave purported to be one of the world's most unexplored and possibly largest systems. Of course, a tropical storm is on the way, but they all believe they'll be just fine, with a few days to spare. The storm turns into a typhoon, the comm system goes down, and the team is trapped deep in the earth as the torrent of rain causes the water to rise within the caverns and threaten their lives. In the midst of these struggles, we find a teenaged boy at odds with his famous explorer-dad, and others who are more interested in self-preservation than in any act of human decency. We find bits of "The Abyss," "Alien," and "The Descent" all mish-mashed into a colossal mess.

The first obstacle for me was the ridiculous dialogue, which sounded like teenagers trying to impress friends and screenwriters trying to fabricate drama. The next obstacle was the world-class explorers who panic and turn on each other the moment any danger hits. The third obstacle was the typhoon which arrives in seeming minutes, with no time to warn anyone even though a storm was known to be approaching days earlier. The fourth obstacle was watching experienced explorers leave others far behind in caves and then asking where they are. This is just ridiculous behavior by anyone who has spent more than a few hours outdoors or in the wild.... The fifth obstacle was the tribal man shown three or four times for no purpose other than to suggest, I guess, that he has called this storm upon those desecrating his land with their exploration. If, in fact, he was meant to issue a warning, he never did so. It seemed his purpose was forgotten by the directors and writers. The sixth reason was that the film's two women are said to be adventurous in one case, and very experienced at cave-exploration in the other case, yet both die due to their own panicky reactions to things. Apparently women just can't handle the pressure of being in such a pathetic movie.

I stopped caring ten minutes into the movie, but kept watching for the few scenes of beauty and natural wonder (the only reason for giving it one star). I began hating the script forty minutes into it, and by the hour-mark I hated myself for wasting a dollar and my evening. If you're like me, you'll want to pass on this mess. But then again, maybe you're not. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Shame on you James Cameron April 9, 2012

By Jaha

Format:DVD

It's generally a good sign that when a big name producer/director is tagged to a movie with a "Presents" or "Produced by" line that something is amiss. Shame on Cameron for this pathetic marketing grab. I cannot fathom how this man felt this movie would help his reputation.

Sanctum is a terrible movie experience. I found nothing redeeming in this mish-mash of movie cliches and horrible wastes of money.

1. The acting is atrocious. Everyone is over-acting or just failing miserably in every sense of the word. Not only is there a sheer lack of talent here but they show absolutely no conscious ability to even remotely get into the situation they are supposed to be in. However this is due to two larger issues as well.

2. Embarrassing writing. The screenplay for this film is a giant steaming turd. The characters are all unlikable. Not a single one has any redeeming trait. The film basically moves from one terrible movie cliche to the next. We have the pouty teenage boy rebelling from his famous explorer dad, the over cocky no fear rich guy with his snotty out of her league girlfriend, the abrasive father who pushes too hard, and the sage sidekick with some ironic ailment for the job he is doing. Everything in this film is predictable and the writers didn't seem to care. Whats worse is the pathetic attempts to generate drama are insulting. The father son quarrels and bonding moments a midst a major disaster are just ludicrous and had me literally cursing the screen.

3. Directing. The director got nothing out of his actors here and most likely was incompetent to do anything different. The actors had no flow. One minute they would be screaming and crying, the next minute they are smiling, joking around and taking pictures like tourists.... This is not just bad acting, it's bad directing. Clearly the actors were losing their sense of direction from a broken up shooting schedule. The director should have kept them in the moment but failed to do so. The main character is this no name teenage boy whose basic range of acting is grinning like a moron to squinting really hard when trying to cry. Just pathetic.

4. Cinematography. The main character in this film was supposed to be the cave but the combination of terrible camera work combined with shoddy CGI just made the whole film look terrible. Half the time you couldn't see anything because the cameras just couldn't catch the action. Camera angles and positions were poorly chosen and I suspect budget concerns didn't allow for many reshoots. Later on in the film they give you wide angle shots of CGI caves that are so far back you can't make anything out. Much of the film has you starring at a rock wall with no clue where you are supposed to look.

By about halfway through the film I stopped caring if these morons made it out of the cave alive. Perhaps most insulting was how it climaxes. There was no story, just some cheesy disaster film thrown together with no direction and a lot of bogus cheesy film cliches. Waste of time and money. Don't even rent this one. It only encourages them to make more of this trash. Shame on you James Cameron indeed! Read more ›