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SANCTUMMovie Reviews
Action adventure about a team of divers who become trapped in a remote, unexplored sea cave and must struggle to stay alive and find an exit. Cast:Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Parkinson, Daniel WyllieDirector:Alister GriersonRelease Date:February 4, 2011DVD Release:June 7, 2011From:UniversalRating:RLength:1 hr 49 minIn 3D
Sanctum played to weak reviews. • Richard Corliss wrote in Time, "...a stinker, a horror movie without a visible monster, a deep dive into shallow characters..." • And Ty Burr wrote in the Boston Globe, "...essentially a muscular Australian B-movie down to the thin characters and boilerplate dialogue....like most B-movies, it’s better at showing than telling." More Reviews Below...
Richard Corliss, Time: POOR "...a stinker, a horror movie without a visible monster, a deep dive into shallow characters... lacks visual grandeur.... a drab, strident enterprise..."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 783 words, 02/03/11
Jake Coyle, Associated Press: WEAK(cg) "As a showcase for 3-D, it is a failure.... The film at least avoids that romantic lie of so many survivalist movies, that you can make it against all odds."(See all of Jake Coyle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 665 words, 02/03/11
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: POOR(cg) "...a better title would be 'Scrotum'.... the movie ultimately reveals itself as a pretender with no balls. Creatively, it's all wet."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 266 words, 02/04/11
Claudia Puig, USA Today: POOR(cg) "...being stuck in a remote waterlogged grotto might be more tolerable than enduring this disaster... The characters are stupendously uninteresting..."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 444 words, 02/04/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: MODERATE "The premise is strong and for a while you swim with it.... But the script, which really should've been called 'Sanctimonium,' has a serious case of the bends."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 449 words, 02/04/11
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE(cg) "The same 3-D technology used in 'Avatar,' with none of that movie's imagination. Even James Cameron can't save 'Sanctum.' "(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 307 words, 02/04/11
Aaron Hillis, Village Voice/LA Weekly: WEAK "...the added visual dimension, thankfully used more for spatial recognition than splashing at us, can't compensate for impersonalized characters stuck under rocks."(See all of Aaron Hillis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 208 words, 02/02/11
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...despite groan-worthy dialogue that often takes you right out of the picture, you'll likely be holding your breath in genuine suspense."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 698 words, 02/04/11
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "...stick that camera down an aquatic cave, wrap a paper-thin plot around it, slap the whole thing up on an IMAX screen and call it a movie."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 670 words, 02/04/11
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "...an intermittently entertaining adventure... As a test run for low-light 3-D digital cinema, it's a little wobbly. As a movie, it's considerably more so."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 358 words, 02/03/11
KEY CITIES (12 Reviews)
Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: MODERATE(cg) "...most convincing when the characters have air tubes in their mouths, and it's always cause for alarm when the adventurers stop swimming to talk out some conflict."(See all of Mark Jenkins's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 433 words, 02/04/11
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...grisly stuff.... shot in Australia with an Aussie and British cast, makes 127 Hours look like a walk in the park."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 418 words, 02/04/11
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a solid, old-fashioned action yarn filled with the very latest dive gear and the oldest plot formula in the movie-maker's playbook."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 561 words, 02/04/11
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "...an unpretentious, old-fashioned man-against-nature adventure with a number of effective set pieces and solid 3-D effects..."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 359 words, 02/04/11
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: MODERATE(cg) "...essentially a muscular Australian B-movie down to the thin characters and boilerplate dialogue.... like most B-movies, it's better at showing than telling."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 507 words, 02/04/11
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: WEAK(cg) "...the usual characters are quickly killed off (it's never a good idea to be a minority in one of these movies) and everyone does a lot of screaming at each other."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 503 words, 02/04/11
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE(cg) "...by no means a badly made movie, but it has the feel of one of those dramatic re-enactments made exclusively for Imax theaters."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 617 words, 02/04/11
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: FAIR(cg) "...full of one-dimensional characters doing improbably brave things in a 3-D world, delivering lines like: 'Panic's the vulture that sits on your shoulder'..."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 429 words, 02/03/11
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: MODERATE(cg) "...gruesome accidents, poor decision-making, murderous rage, some seriously laughable acting, hilarious dialogue and a burdensome back story..."(See all of Connie Ogle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 452 words, 02/04/11
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (8 Reviews)
Aaron Hillis, Village Voice/LA Weekly: WEAK "...the added visual dimension, thankfully used more for spatial recognition than splashing at us, can't compensate for impersonalized characters stuck under rocks."(See all of Aaron Hillis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 208 words, 02/02/11
Katey Rich, Cinema Blend: WEAK(cg) "...if it didn't flatter Cameron's lifelong love of diving and newfound 3D obsession, he probably never would have gone near 'Sanctum' to begin with."(See all of Katey Rich's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 548 words, 02/04/11
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: POOR(cg) "The visuals in Grierson's suffocatingly bad film impress, but not nearly as much as the dialogue, so terrible that I was sure producer James Cameron wrote it (he did not)."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 165 words, 02/10/11
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "...an intermittently entertaining adventure... As a test run for low-light 3-D digital cinema, it's a little wobbly. As a movie, it's considerably more so."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 358 words, 02/03/11
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: VERY GOOD(cg) "...extreme people in extreme danger in an extreme place. In 3D! The good kind of 3D, the kind that immerses you in a place you've never been before..."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 789 words, 02/02/11
HIGHBROW PRESS (4 Reviews)
Bob Mondello, NPR All Things Considered: POOR " 'The Poseidon Adventure' without an ocean liner; folks are dropping off right and left, with the guessing game of who'll die next providing the chief narrative thread."(See all of Bob Mondello's reviews...)(Listen to the full review...) 215 seconds, 02/04/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "The premise is strong and for a while you swim with it.... But the script, which really should've been called 'Sanctimonium,' has a serious case of the bends."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 449 words, 02/04/11
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: POOR "When it isn't killing off its characters one by one during a cave-diving expedition gone wrong, resembles a Hemingway short story without the story part."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 890 words, 02/02/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "The premise is strong and for a while you swim with it.... But the script, which really should've been called 'Sanctimonium,' has a serious case of the bends."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 449 words, 02/04/11
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: MODERATE(cg) "Sharply uneven... the most troubled element of the production is the plot (or lack of), which is far less interesting than the individual characters."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 535 words, 02/02/11
18.8 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Sanctum's reviews are separated by an average 18.8 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Sanctum (41 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Sanctum's reviews cover 70.0% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 19,839 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 484 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 10.0 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Sanctum's reviews on average broke 10.0 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Sanctum's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
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