A Caverna

This wasn't a bad movie if you like creature flicks. It isn't original, but it does nothing badly and is interesting enough to spend 1.5 hours with.

Firstly: why is it that the entire team consists of hunks and babes? Even the scientists are good looking chicks. Oh well, we'll just have to suspend our thinking and just accept that actors have to be good looking these days, even if their roles completely rule out looking like a supermodel.

As for the movie itself: the action, plot (if there is any to speak of), effects and direction are OK, as is the acting.. Once again, nothing special, novel or interesting but not bad either. The editing was decent except for the action shots. Why does every editor and/or director think that they are doing an MTV clip these days? Keep the camera still! If you think I can see what's going on in random .3 second bursts of film, you're wrong. So irritating.

The effects are OK. Although at times the caves are lit in ways that are impossible for the little flashlights to accomplish, the set is generally dark enough to be realistic. The caves look real. The monsters are not that good but they are almost never shown completely, and in doing so they are acceptable. I do wish the movie had more gore though. Being, as almost all horror movies these days, PG-13 to cash in on teenage kids' money, it does not show any gore besides some scratches and some ugly but very brief ceature shots.

Final comment: I wish the movie had revolved around the first cave expedition that is shown during the introduction titles. They seemed a hell of a lot more interesting than that group of supermodels who came in later. Real men, real people, driven by greed. Oh well.

Decent action, decent thrills. Not bad to kill some time with.

The Cave and The Descent both came out around the same sort of time in the UK but, unlike Armageddon/Deep Impact etc, both were low budget affairs and it wasn't like there was any sort of box office battle between them. Were there a battle though, it would be the sort of boxing match that is over after twelve seconds when the referee stops it – and The Descent would be far and away the winner across almost all measures (except "number of men in cast" I guess). There will always be better films though, so we shouldn't focus on a better one while watching The Cave but rather judge it on its own merits and whether or not it delivers enough to be worth seeing. Roughly the film just about has enough in it to distract but never more than that – and it is never just one thing that is the weakness because the film has issues across it in almost every area that conspire to make it a "so-so" product.

The plot is fine for a monster movie and, coming into the film I was already prepared for "group enter situation for some reason, get trapped and are picked off one by one until only a few manage to escape" film that I hoped would be exciting and enjoyable for what it was. I tend to do this with genre movies because there is little point in looking for more and moaning when it is not there; however, it is fair comment when the genre aspects are badly done or fudged so that it doesn't even operate at the level of the genre. This is the case with The Cave, which cannot ever manage to settle on an approach and focus on making it work really well. The plot is not really the issue but the delivery of it is. Suspension of belief is important and you generally get that by bringing the audience so into the world of the film that they only think with the logic internal to the film, if they have want to think at all. Tension and excitement are ways of doing this and The Descent showed how that was done – The Cave shows how not to do it.

There isn't really any tension here and even the attacks are not that excitement. Mostly they are delivered in bloodless ways with frantic camera work so that you cannot see what is going on. Later on some of the horror gets "uncomfortable" but never more than that; I doubt my pulse got above resting levels at any point during the film. The creatures themselves are reasonable CGI effects but are just another CGI-generated monster that owes a lot to many other creatures that have gone before it – I think there must be a Hollywood CGI computer programme that you push a button and it generates creatures at random with the ability to tweak or add bits to it (in this case wings). The cast are just a bland and unimaginative though. Hamstrung by a poor script, their performances are average and nobody really steps up to engage with the audience and make it "fun" for them. I expected Morris Chestnut to do this but nope. Hauser is the "main" character and does try to make his character's twist work but it gets lost between him and the filmmakers and something that could have been a building menace from within is just another thing that don't work! It also leads to a twist at the end that is only terrifying in that it suggests a sequel (which will probably never come). Perabo provides looks and body to the mix and has a bit of energy but the film never uses her. Headey, Cibrian, Ravanello, Kim and the others might as well have been cardboard cut-outs carried round on sticks for all the difference they made – not that they are "bad" just that nobody can bring anything of real meaning. Hunt's direction is poor. He never really uses his underground/underwater locations to good effect and it is only ever the setting and not a massive part of the film working as it was in The Descent.

What we are left with is a genre film that grinds away at a very basic level, never aspiring to much and delivering less than it should have done. It is distracting but dull as uninteresting characters are killed by creatures that don't inspire terror in ways that are as thrilling as vacuuming the front room. Maybe it is OK for a lazy Friday night in with a basic cable movie, but if you want more than the absolute basics then it is not for you.

Two things - one: this film is nowhere near as bad as some say. Of course, that doesn't make it good, but I enjoyed it.

Second - the prop used to show the strength of communications signal when the first scout explores the cave system is in fact a silver Korg guitar tuner! Not worth mentioning usually except that it is shown in close up several times during this sequence, with the row of red lights normally used to show how close to the note the guitar string is representing here the strength of the signal from the first scout diver...

You can freeze the DVD on one of the closeups to see the words "Cents" and "Hz" and the note names E A D G B E written on the tuner. Classic.

Now that's what I call cheap props for an expensive film. Incidentally, the Korg tuners are very good - at tuning guitars.

I went into this movie expecting just your average creature feature akin to Pitch Black, and I wasn't let down. It is, indeed, just your average creature feature. It's not the next best thing to Aliens, but it's not the travesty most reviewers here are making it out to be either.

The Cave is a fun popcorn flick. There's no really deep plot or amazing acting talent. What this movie does have is a few very intense, suspenseful moments, which is only aided by the very dark and claustrophobic atmosphere of the cave. It also has your average thriller twist at the end which I did not see coming.

The cinematography and directing by first-timer Bruce Hunt is surprisingly well done. His background as assistance director for the Matrix films and Dark City is apparent here. While he's no Spielberg or Cameron, he keeps the camera angles interesting, and there are scenes within vast, tall rooms in the cave that are quite breathtaking. One complaint, however, is that he chose to follow other directors mistakes in jarring the camera in a very frenetic and sickening manner back and forth whenever one of the characters is being attacked by the creature. This is not only very annoying and disorienting, but is IMO just a trick to cover up the poor creature fx.

Speaking of the FX, I have to say I'm 50/50 here. Sometimes they looked good, and sometimes they looked like they were from a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. The creature effects that looked good were the closeups, which utilized real models. These looked quite realistic. But far away shots of the CGI creatures are not so impressive.

If you want to sit down on a Friday night and just have fun, then pick up The Cave.

A group of scientist/explorers are brought in to explore a cave in Romania. Legend claims a church was built to seal the cave as a display of God's protective power, and Templar Knights fought winged demons.

The acting is pretty good with some solid actors. The most recognizable actors are Lena Headey, Morris Chestnut, Daniel Dae Kim, Cole Hauser, Piper Perabo, and Eddie Cibrian. They're able to give serious performances without being campy.

It's not scary as a horror, but it works more as an action adventure. They could have laid out the cave system better as the movie goes along. A few seconds of screen time could save a whole lot of headaches. Seeing Piper Perabo swinging on the cliff is a lot of fun. However some of the other action scenes are too confused and chaotic.

The creatures are a bit of a disappointment. It's just yet another CG creature creation. Half lizard half dragon, it could have been so much better considering what the creatures are derived from. They could have made it much more original and unique.