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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  /  The Cave
Posted by: George Willson, January 31st, 2006, 3:27am
I know Andrew did a review of this some time ago on his review thread, but there was no thread for it exclusively, and I got it from Netflix recently, so here are my thoughts. This has enough info to understand, but not so much to spoil it for those who are uncertain.

So this movie follows a bunch of cave divers who like to explore the underwater world deep within a cave. They go deep in one cave, and once trapped, they discover sinister creatures down there.

The premise is clever and really shows how a good premise can get a movie made, but some of the execution is shoddy. Some of the shots seemed premature in that they didn't make sense until some later shots occurred.

One of the character actions didn't make sense until they explained, again, later. They hopped a ride on a water slide leading down a waterfall. I'm thinking, why are they going down? I thought they wanted out. Learned later in the film (not explained, but I picked up on it) that the water has to come out somewhere, so that worked.

Sometimes, the characters did things that really didn't make sense either. For instance, if I went down a tunnel into a chamber where I was attacked by a bunch of cave scorpians and then one of these freaky demon creatures, I wouldn't go back to everyone and say, "Hey, I found the way," and then RETURN TO THAT CHAMBER! Children, we call that stupidity and find another way out.

This happened multiple times during the film too.

Finally, the group inevitably splits up after disagreeing about the best way out. One group climbs up some walls and down others which would put the fittest climber to shame and wear him out. The other decides to follow another underground current and see where it comes out.

Well, the climbers win when they find an exit. However, one of them heroically (or stupidly) goes back in climbing up and down walls AGAIN to find everyone else who followed the current! I'm thinking wait a minute! You don't know where that current went. It could have led straight out as well. Of course it didn't so he's a big hero, but somehow the tunnels led through a few more passages and...ta-da! right into the chamber where the first group was waiting. Wow, what are the astronomically minute chances of THAT happening? The climb was more believable.

Finally, there was this deal with a parasite in the cave water which was clever. It gave the thing a bit of a time element...except...what you're telling me is that through all that climbing, falling, bumping, and crashing, no one got a single scrape on their perfect form to admit this parasite? Having some trouble here.

Characters were ok. They weren't spectacular, but these types of films tend to lack in that area. Thin if any backstory, and very little motivational explanation beyond the character stereotypes. Overall, the combination of the attempt to make us care along with the sheer stupidity of some of the actions balanced us out to curiosity but not a relationship.

The plot itself was well formed and relatively sound. The pacing was fine. The underwater shots were amazing. I liked the creatures and the concept behind them. It basically had a big problem in believability allowing our hero to do too much to be heroic. If you can suspend your disbelief enough, it's good. If you prefer believability, not so good.
Posted by: MacDuff, January 31st, 2006, 11:37am; Reply: 1
Great premise, shoddy execution.

I actually (naive?) had some good expectations of this, but when I watched it, I must admit I was disappointed. I basically agree with all your statements above.

The character development was non-existent and I just really did'nt care about any of them. They were also the stereotypical group of stranded people who get picked of one by one.

I was really hoping for something fresh and scary. I was hoping of something like The Relic (which I really enjoyed), but got something less enjoyable.

2.5/5
Posted by: FilmMaker06, January 31st, 2006, 6:17pm; Reply: 2
I was fixin to rent this. But I like real movies, so I shouldn't. Instead I got RED EYE! The most awesome movie ever...but thats another thread.
Posted by: IronPeace, February 1st, 2006, 12:15am; Reply: 3
From the moment I saw the first trailer, I knew this was going to be lame. And i was right. It was a very horrible movie, It wasn't good at all. I'm not going to get into the details because it's to painful to think about, but know this......don't buy or rent it unless you want to waste ur money....GodSpeed!
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