Review of The Cave (2005) by Darrin C — 10 Dec 2014

"The Cave" is an uneasy, mostly unsuccessful mix of old and new Hollywood, an old-fashioned monster movie with updated but unconvincing computerized effects. There are several different types of creatures in the film, and they are all pretty imaginative but the implausible CGI takes you out of the moment every time.

The film could have greatly benefited from some old school movie magic from an actual effects craftsman, but young filmmakers are rarely willing to take the road less traveled anymore. First-time director Bruce Hunt did the visual effects on the wonderfully ambitious "Dark City," so it's surprising to me that his debut feature would be this lazy.

There are some good moments here, most notably the thrilling death of Piper Perabo, which is easily;y the most exciting scene in the film. Still, this is always destined to be the cave monster movie that is not "The Descent." Beyond that one great scene, the film is very stiff and wooden, and the characters are very one-dimensional and typical of a film like this. For much to it, it's difficult to tell a few of the male actors apart.

Hunt fails to breath much life into this, and the film may have worked better without the creatures at all. It could have been strictly a "man VS nature" experience much like "Sanctum." The sad thing is that I did enjoy the final scene, a surprise twist ending that actually works and sets up for a sequel. It's almost disappointing that the film bombed because with the way this ends, the follow-up would have no doubt been more interesting than this film.

In that respect, "The Cave" does show some promise but its hindered by modern technology. If only someone had actually cared enough to put a little work and effort into it.