'Sanctum'review: Shallow characters are passing air bubbles in action-packed cave adventure

A cave-diving team faces catastrophe. WithIoan Gruffud,Rhys Wakefield. Director:Alister Grierson. (1:49) R: Violence, language. At area theaters.

ThoughJames Camerononly executive-produced"Sanctum,"this man-versus-nature adventure has all the earmarks of theOscar-winningfilmmaker's movies— which can at times suck the air out of things.

Big as they are, Cameron's blockbusters are interwoven with an often aggravating earnestness. Put aside technological high-watermarks and box-office success, and what stands out about"The Abyss,""Titanic"and"Avatar"is howBoy Scouttheir emotions are."Sanctum,"directed by documentarian Alister Grierson, feels the same only without any gloss, so it comes close to being an extended version of anImaxmovie at the Museum of Natural History. Still, when the movie needs to, it can rock 'n' roll.

Inspired in a bare-bones way by a real-life Australian diving accident in 1988,"Sanctum"begins as Carl (Ioan Gruffudd), a wanna-be-adventurer millionaire, arrives in Papua, NewGuinea, with his mountaineer girlfriend, Victoria (Alice Parkinson), to go cave-diving. Their team is led by Frank (Richard Roxburgh), an irascible veteran caver who's spent more time underground than with his now-grown son, Josh (Rhys Wakefield).

After those four and their technicians start spelunking inside"the largest unexplored cave system in the world,"a sudden hurricane floods the cavern, sealing their entryway. Trapped, they have to trust Frank to get them to an ocean exit before they drown, get smashed against the rocks or fall prey to bad judgments and petty rivalries.

Once the clichés are dispensed with — Frank"likes to play by his own rules"and"can only make sense of things"when he's in the center of the earth— there are some gripping thrills. Water is both friend and foe, the sense of claustrophobia is palpable, and by the movie's midway point the bodies start to pile up. (A double-feature of this and"127 Hours"might kill the last subscriptions toBackpacker magazine.)

It all looks sharp, though the 3-D is wasted except for a scene in a tunnel. The acting, meanwhile, is stuck in one dimension. Gruffudd ("TheFantastic Four") delivers laugh-inducing groaners, and Wakefield, who resembles a youngMichael York, may as well be playingBasil Expositionfor all the back-story he provides. At least Roxburgh is a gruff cartoon, a fun Aussie combo of Captains Nemo and Queeg.

The screenplay, by underwater explorer-filmmakerAndrew Wightand diver-screenwriterJohn Garvin, is, naturally, spot-on with the descent drama (Wight was actually part of the '88 expedition). If you're able to think of characters as just air bubbles to get past, then dive in, the excitement's fine.

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