This movie is enjoyable enough as a popcorn creature feature but compared to Neil Marshall's The Descent which came out in the same year this falls well short of being an effective horror thriller.
The Cave should be a tense, claustrophobic and terrifying experience but it's simply not, instead it goes down the action thriller route and relies on CGI creature effects to win the audience over. It's more of an adventure to explore these caves rather than fear them which is where The Descent works so much better because you can feel the claustrophobia, being in a sense of place, of being trapped in that situation.
Here we don't really care about the characters and neither does the uninspired script that is well worn and thinly plotted. The Cave offers nothing new except a few thrills, cool visuals and interestingly designed creatures.
Lena Headey stands out as one of the scientists but the characters are badly drawn and the movie doesn't know whether it wants to be a horror, thriller or action flick. So despite it's physical depth the Cave is actually a shallow experience.
The Cave should be a tense, claustrophobic and terrifying experience but it's simply not, instead it goes down the action thriller route and relies on CGI creature effects to win the audience over. It's more of an adventure to explore these caves rather than fear them which is where The Descent works so much better because you can feel the claustrophobia, being in a sense of place, of being trapped in that situation.
Here we don't really care about the characters and neither does the uninspired script that is well worn and thinly plotted. The Cave offers nothing new except a few thrills, cool visuals and interestingly designed creatures.
Lena Headey stands out as one of the scientists but the characters are badly drawn and the movie doesn't know whether it wants to be a horror, thriller or action flick. So despite it's physical depth the Cave is actually a shallow experience.