Review of The Cave (2005) by Brendan V — 05 Sep 2009

To sum it up: cool/intriguing/terrifying concept. Poor execution.

The ideas were good, but the pay off was not. This film could have played off of the horrifying claustrophobia and moral dilemnas you are faced with when you are stuck in a giant underground cave. The film also would have benefited from showing the creatures less...sort of a Jaws approach. A new editor (I got tired of every scene fading to black) and more clarity (Wait, what? They died? How?....Wait, what? How did they get there?...Wait, what? When did that happen?) would have been nice too.

And of course there are some gaping logic-holes. Normally I can ignore them in movies if they're executed well, but they were fairly obnoxious in this film. Piper Perabo's character for example leaping from one cave wall to the next and sticking the landing perfectly was COMPLETELY ridiculous.

I don't hate the film....I just have absolutely no emotional attachment to it at all. It stayed with me while I was watching it, but nothing more than that. It's too bad, because again, I thought a lot of ideas from this film were great. Perfectly ripe for a gripping monster flick. Alas.