El santuario (Sanctum)

This movie, although not James Cameron's best, is visually exciting and suspenseful. A gripping expedition becomes a race against time and human nature, when a group of explorers navigating an immense cave in Papua New Guinea during a cyclone find themselves trapped in what threatens to become a watery tomb.

The sometimes melodramatic acting and clichéd dialogue tries too hard to construct the nature of each character before the action scenes start to set in, the uncompromising and experienced leader, the rash and cocky business man, the young kid with father issues. There were plenty of chances to let these traits become apparent naturally throughout the script.

The acting gets more bearable as the number of characters starts to dwindle a little. What saves this movie is the sense of scale in the scenery, the beauty of the natural caves, and the realism with which situations become volatile and unmanageable.

Overall, if you want to see a decent, action driven film about of one of the world's last remaining unexplored landforms, then Sanctum will (probably) not disappoint. It could have done without the 3D, which seemed unnecessary overkill. Not as good as The Abyss, but a similarly excellent visual experience to Avatar, unfortunately it comes with a similar level of acting and, with momentary exceptions, emotional depth.