Sanctum

  • Review Date: February 1, 2011
  • Rated: R
  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Release Year: 2011
  • Running Time: 109 minutes

Common Sense Media says

Shallow adventure movie about deep caves.
  • Review Date: February 1, 2011
  • Rated: R
  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Release Year: 2011
  • Running Time: 109 minutes

Age(i)

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Quality(i)

 
(i)
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What parents need to know

Positive messages

The movie's major theme involves the struggle to overcome the odds and survive. The characters must learn to work together and solve new problems at every turn. The secondary theme involves an emotionally distant father and his son finding a connection. But not everyone learns a lesson here ... or even survives.

Positive role models

Frank -- the older, experienced explorer -- has learned to shut off his emotions, putting raw survival ahead of everything else. He's a good man to have in an emergency but not the best person if you want someone to trust or talk with. But over the course of the film, he remembers what it's like to be human and to empathize with others.

Violence

Characters die in horrible ways, from bashing their heads on rocks to drowning. Viewers see bloated corpses and blood, and characters make gurgling sounds as they choke on blood. One character catches on fire. Characters also fight and squabble every so often, and there's one knockdown brawl with fatalities.

Sex

One character brings his girlfriend to the caves; she wears revealing clothing from time to time. Also a small amount of sexual innuendo.

Language

Heavy language includes many uses of both "f--k" and "s--t." Also "ass" "a--hole," "c--k," "damn," "goddamn," "oh my God," "hell," and more. One character raises a middle finger.

Consumerism
Not applicable
Drinking, drugs, & smoking

A minor character is briefly seen smoking. A major character brings a bottle of hard liquor down into the cave; characters occasionally drink from it during the movie's first third, but no one gets drunk.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this intense 3-D adventure movie set in the world of cave diving was produced (though not written or directed) by James Cameron and feels very much like a smaller-scale version of one of his epics -- like Titanic and Avatar -- and is just as focused on spectacle. There's plenty of heavy language (including many uses of "f--k" and "s--t"), and the violence includes fighting and blood, plus gruesome drownings and dead bodies -- all of which is amplified by the 3-D. You can also expect some drinking and smoking and a little innuendo.

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Kids say

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What's the story?

A group of cave divers prepares to explore one of the world's biggest caves, perhaps becoming the first humans to discover a new underwater passage to the sea. Among them are expert caver Frank (Richard Roxburgh); his estranged son, Josh (Rhys Wakefield); and Carl (Ioan Gruffudd), the weekend-adventurer/millionaire paying for the whole expedition. Unfortunately, a typhoon hits harder and faster than expected, stranding the five explorers inside and slowly filling the caves with water. Now they have no choice but to find their secret passage or die trying.

Is it any good?

QUALITY
 

Produced by James Cameron, SANCTUM feels very much like it was entirely sculpted, shaped, and finalized by the self-proclaimed "King of the World." It includes his style of storytelling -- for example, a 3-D computer demonstration of the entire cave system -- and his brand of pretty shallow characters, as well as an obsession with spectacle. And, indeed, the cave photography here is impressive -- but that's not enough to make the movie work.

Most of the film's suspense depends on a real, natural human fear of drowning; but Buried and 127 Hours play on similar fears to much better effect, with stronger characters and performances to boot. Sometimes it's possible, as with Cameron's own Avatar, to overlook a movie's lack of human elements and enjoy the hugeness of the event as a pure cinematic rollercoaster ride, but Sanctum feels like too little, too late.

Families can talk about...

  • Families can talk about the movie's violence. Is it thrilling or disturbing? How does the movie achieve that reaction?

  • Is this movie more or less scary than similar films that have clear "bad guys" -- or even monsters -- to confront? Why?

  • Is it necessary for people (like the character of Frank) to shut down their emotions in order to be expert explorers and survivors?

Movie details

Theatrical release date:February 4, 2011
DVD release date:June 7, 2011
Cast:Ioan Gruffudd, Rhys Wakefield, Richard Roxburgh
Director:Alister Grierson
Studio:Universal Pictures
Genre:Action/Adventure
Run time:109 minutes
MPAA rating:R
MPAA explanation:language, some violence and disturbing images

This review of Sanctum was written by

Jeffrey M. Anderson

About our rating system

  • ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
  • PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
  • OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
  • NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids of any age.

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Quality

Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Learning ratings

  • Best: Really engaging, great learning approach.
  • Very Good: Engaging, good learning approach.
  • Good: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
  • Fair: Somewhat engaging, okay learning approach.
  • Not for Learning: Not recommended for learning.
  • Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.

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Parent of a 6 and 8 year old Written bySoftball mom February 24, 2011
AGE
17
QUALITY
 

Watch it at home.

It was long, intense and sad. A triumphant ending would have saved this movie. It fell flat.
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Teen, 13 years old Written bytaylorswift2122 February 5, 2011
AGE
13
QUALITY
 
this film is o.k for mature teens one crude joke and thats it. very violent dead bodies might scare tweens but other than that it is fine.
What other families should know
Too much violence
Too much swearing
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Adult Written bywallyk2334 February 4, 2011
AGE
13
QUALITY
 

Great thriller for teens and up

I took my 13 year old nephew to see this movie not realizing it was rated R! We both really enjoyed the movie and were absolutely on the edge of our seats for the entire last hour of the movie. Once we left the movie I saw that it was rated R and was quite shocked. The language is not that bad and the violence is not that bad. True there are quite a few drownings and scenes with dead people floating around but again I am surprised this film didn't get a PG-13 rating. The 3D is excellent and definitely recomend it to adult and teens.
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