07-09-04 The Cave (2005)

Seen: September 31st, 2007 (and previous)
Format: Broadcast (Encore)
Rating: 5

I'm on a road trip and trying to get my quota in and stumbled across this late at night. I'd seen it before and didn't remember hating it, and gave it another look. It was pretty much the same as the first time around.

Basically this is a things that go bump in the night, er dark, flick. It cam e out around the same time as The Descent, and contains similar elements, but has a very different tone. This one's thriller instead of horror, and tries a bit harder to actually rationalize things.

There's some beautiful visuals in this film, and not just the classic underwater cave shots (the location is famous and escapes me at the moment). In particular, the shots of Charlie climbing in the dark are quite stunning.

The Dark can almost be considered a character in this film, and the way it's treated visually is critical. The film makers do an excellent job here, using it well, lighting in many ways to created different effects and atmospheres as the journey progresses.

Casting and performances are decent. This is the film that made me actually start to pay attention to Piper Perabo. Her role is different than you've seen before. Lena Headey is solid, but unremarkable, as is Cole Hauser. The rest are caricatures to some degree.

The rest of the film doesn't fare quite so well.

The backstory is a bit thin. While you have to give credit for trying to supply a scientific explanation for what's going on in the cave, it all seems a bit thin and superficial. While the concepts are interesting, in the long run, it really didn't matter that much to me.

There's also an attempt at creating tension within the party. This works to a small degree, but serves more to partition the party into those you think will survive, vs. those you think won't. It all comes off as more posturing than anything else, and tends to undermine the authority and respect Jack has been shown earlier in the film.

But it's still all good fun. It keeps the details from us long enough to keep us interested. The monsters are scary, but not invincible. There's some surprises along the way. Settle in with someone to grab onto and pay attention.

The Good: Visually compelling noise in the dark fest

The Bad: Sketchy backstory

The Ugly: Changing for the better