Oh dear. Back in 2005, two potholing horrors came out at the same time. Both involved teams descending into underground cave networks and discovering previously unknown creatures with a penchant for human flesh. THE DESCENT, a British film helmed by Neil Marshall, was a film I enjoyed very much and would probably watch again. THE CAVE, on the other hand, is a typical US horror that does everything wrong. Not only does it have a child-friendly rating, meaning it lacks the viciousness a movie like this cries out for, but it's happy to tread the same old ground without making any effort, delivering a film that's heavily inspired by creature classics like ALIENS and even PITCH BLACK and being instantly forgettable in the same breath.
Right from the start I knew this was going to be bad, thanks to the jerky, frenetic camera-work that takes place during the action sequences. Now, ALL of these take place in dimly-lit caverns which are hard enough to see in as it is, so why did the director feel the need to make things harder to watch with his jerky camera-work? Another cliché that doesn't work. Sadly, though, the bad camera-work doesn't stop us seeing the APPALLING creatures, which are CGI monstrosities for the most part, with the occasional use of a model head that looks just like an ALIEN. No thought or imagination seems to have gone into these beasts at all.
The script is dire, the cast boring. Even Cole Hauser, who has the most interesting role of a guy gradually transforming into a beast, comes off the worse as his sub-plot goes nowhere (I guess the filmmakers were trying to inject some menace). Eddie Cibrian has the right macho hero look about him, but he comes across as wooden, and the only cast-member I liked at all was Lena Headey (300), who actually has a little integrity (until the stupid twist ending, that is). Watch out for the gratuitous cleavage shot the director threw in in an attempt to draw the male audience. Morris Chestnut and Daniel Dae Kim are the ethnic types thrown into the mix for no good reason and totally underused.
I'm not even angry enough to care about this film. THE CAVE is one of those ones where your attention keeps wandering despite your best efforts and the end result is that I had no emotion about it whatsoever. Just a bland, cookie-cutter horror outing for the masses, and one that misses the point totally.
Right from the start I knew this was going to be bad, thanks to the jerky, frenetic camera-work that takes place during the action sequences. Now, ALL of these take place in dimly-lit caverns which are hard enough to see in as it is, so why did the director feel the need to make things harder to watch with his jerky camera-work? Another cliché that doesn't work. Sadly, though, the bad camera-work doesn't stop us seeing the APPALLING creatures, which are CGI monstrosities for the most part, with the occasional use of a model head that looks just like an ALIEN. No thought or imagination seems to have gone into these beasts at all.
The script is dire, the cast boring. Even Cole Hauser, who has the most interesting role of a guy gradually transforming into a beast, comes off the worse as his sub-plot goes nowhere (I guess the filmmakers were trying to inject some menace). Eddie Cibrian has the right macho hero look about him, but he comes across as wooden, and the only cast-member I liked at all was Lena Headey (300), who actually has a little integrity (until the stupid twist ending, that is). Watch out for the gratuitous cleavage shot the director threw in in an attempt to draw the male audience. Morris Chestnut and Daniel Dae Kim are the ethnic types thrown into the mix for no good reason and totally underused.
I'm not even angry enough to care about this film. THE CAVE is one of those ones where your attention keeps wandering despite your best efforts and the end result is that I had no emotion about it whatsoever. Just a bland, cookie-cutter horror outing for the masses, and one that misses the point totally.