Movie Haiku - The Cave

www.sonypictures.com/movies/thecave


Dir: Bruce Hunt


Cast: Cole Hauser, Morris Chestnut, Lena Headey, Piper Perabo


Something's in the caves

so they'll all die one by one

bit like The Descent


Why is it when one studio has an idea for a movie, all the others follow suit with similar films? Our second cave-dwelling drama this year is The Cave, with Catacombs still to come. Unfortunately it comes after The Descent, a horror movie which did everything right - it's going to be a tough act to follow. Archaelogists discover a buried network of caverns, so Jack (Hauser) and his team of cave-divers are employed to go in and have a look around. But of course they're not alone, there's something down there... something that flies, and something that kills. Yes, it's your basic Ten Little Indians plot - a bunch of people getting picked off one by one by an unknown assasin. When it works (like in Aliens, perhaps the best example of the genre) it offers a great thrill ride for the audience. The Cave plays reasonably well, but is let down by a rather bland set of characters who by and large we don't really care much about. Hauser has never been a great actor and is not leading man material, well certainly not on this evidence. The supporting cast is patchy, with Brit Lena Headey coming off best as Kathryn - eagle-eyed viewers will also spot Lost's Daniel Dae Kim as cameraman Kim. The biggest problem with the film is that it's pitched as a 12A certificate, therefore any horror is muted. There's little swearing, and little gore when the attacks come, leaving the film feeling far too aneamic. Also the lighting - especially when compared to The Descent - is too bright; there's no real sense of the claustrophobia of the surroundings which is needed to give the film atmosphere and suspense. There is one exception - the scene in which Charlie (Perabo) comes face to face with the cave's creature is superbly executed (no pun intended) and confounds expectations. The film moves towards its surprise denoument (okay, it's not much of a surprise, but it's a fun twist nonetheless) steadily enough, and if anything it reminded me more of Pitch Black in tone than anything else - and not just because of the prescence of Cole Hauser. Overall it's fine, but if you really want to watch a subterranean shocker then you should check out The Descent instead - The Cave is just Descent-lite.

soulmining rating: ***