Sanctum

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Sanctum

R

Released Feb 4, 2011

1h 49m

Action

Adventure

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

29%

Tomatometer

171 Reviews

37%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Though the South Pacific's Esa-ala Caves are some of the least-accessible on Earth, expert diver Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) has explored them for months. On one such expedition, Frank is joined by his teenage son, Josh (Rhys Wakefield), and financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd). When a flash flood cuts off their exit, they are caught in a life-or-death situation. With supplies dwindling, the divers must navigate a treacherous labyrinth to find a new escape route or die in the process.

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Critics Consensus

Sanctum is beautifully photographed, and it makes better use of 3-D technology than most, but that doesn't make up for its ham-handed script and lifeless cast.

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Keith Uhlich

Time Out

This 3-D cave-diving adventure plays on a lot of fears, so avoid it if you have an aversion to claustrophobia, drowning or really bad acting.

Rated: 2/5

Jul 31, 2023

Full Review

Leah Rozen

TheWrap

Its downfall is its clich-riddled and fusty script.

Oct 7, 2011

Full Review

Rafer Guzman

Newsday

Despite the millions clearly poured into it, the film feels cheap and amateurish. See it on IMAX if you wish, but the flaws will only look bigger.

Feb 25, 2011

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The failings of 3D, the ironically one-dimensional characters, and hammy acting squander any hope of losing oneself in this tale of survival.

Rated: 2/4

Jul 31, 2023

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Doesn't surpass being a hypertrophied B movie. [Full review in Spanish]

Oct 11, 2022

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

An interesting journey thanks to a decent helping of suspenseful moments, but it's unfortunate the characters don't retain the same level of intrigue.

Rated: 6/10

Nov 30, 2020

Full Review

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Andrew V

This movie is awesome. Are the performances terrible? Yes. Is the writing bad, yes. But is it a great movie, yes! It's just the Descent but underwater cave diving. What more could you ask for? This movie is not trying to be anything more than it is. It seems like it's goal was to show some of the worst nightmare scenarios for cave diving, and it did that to an insane level. If you need a movie to have good writing and performances, then you'll struggle to get through this, but if you can get past that and enjoy this movie for what it is, then its a great time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/09/24

Full Review

Jacob B

It's visually pleasing, has a few good scenes and some genuinely harrowing sequences but overall, Sanctum is a forgettable thriller with boring characters, shallow drama, bad acting and uninteresting script. Definitely the weakest film I've I've seen that has "James Cameron" and "water" in the same sentence, though given the fact that he was only an executive producer on this flick, he probably had no meaningful involvement in the final product. Probably due to be being busy trying to convert Titanic into 3D. But you really think Universal wasn't going to take that opportunity to slap the "Titanic" and "Avatar" connection all over the film's marketing? Oh well, whatever gets me my Cameron fix whilst waiting for Avatar 3, which apparently, did not want to compete against another movie with a blue CGI protagonist, I guess...say, that Dark Angel show has been sitting on my DVD shelf for months. Wonder what it was like for Cameron to make a TV show.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

06/22/24

Full Review

Kevin R

I'm genuinely confused why this movie was reviewed so poorly. It's a survival movie about the many risks and causes of deaths involved with cave diving, so I don't understand why people were expecting some Christopher Nolan type of plot. I was on the edge of my seat the entire movie and the scenes showing how massive the cave was were visually stunning. The death scenes will haunt my nightmares for years to come. If you like survival movies this is a must see. The only part that made zero sense to me was at the end when one of the friends turns on the group as if they were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Other than that great movie!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/26/23

Full Review

Isabelle G

Made me feel like I held my breathe the entire movie. Great character development for the main leads. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions. James Cameron never disappoints.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Michael M

Great Visuals, Nice Suspense, Good Acting. HAMMY SCRIPT and crappy screenwriting. Mixing Good with the Bad.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/01/21

Full Review

Audience Member

Pathetic. But why...why do they have to smash our balls with father-son crap? Jesus.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

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Alister Grierson

Director

Richard Roxburgh

Frank McGuire

Ioan Gruffudd

Carl Hurley

Rhys Wakefield

Josh

Alice Parkinson

Victoria

Dan Wyllie

Crazy George

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Sanctum: Official Clip - Can You Help Me?

2:59

Sanctum: Official Clip - The Bends

2:33

Sanctum: Official Clip - He Killed Her

3:15

Sanctum: Official Clip - Buddy Breathing

3:01

Sanctum: Official Clip - What About Carl?

2:17

Sanctum: Official Clip - Traversing the Chasm

2:13

Sanctum: Official Clip - Put Your Knife Away

3:01

Sanctum: Official Clip - The Squeeze

2:45

Sanctum: Official Clip - Sealed In

2:33

Sanctum: Official Clip - Into the Cave

2:34

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James Cameron, Alister Grierson and Andrew Wight talk Sanctum

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Synopsis

Though the South Pacific's Esa-ala Caves are some of the least-accessible on Earth, expert diver Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) has explored them for months. On one such expedition, Frank is joined by his teenage son, Josh (Rhys Wakefield), and financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd). When a flash flood cuts off their exit, they are caught in a life-or-death situation. With supplies dwindling, the divers must navigate a treacherous labyrinth to find a new escape route or die in the process.

Director: Alister Grierson
Producer: Andrew Wight
Screenwriter: John Garvin, Andrew Wight
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Wayfare Entertainment, Great Wight, Relativity Media, Universal Pictures
Rating: R (Language|Disturbing Images|Some Violence)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 4, 2011, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 7, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $23.1M
Runtime: 1h 49m
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS

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