The Cave

[TheShadowFox]

The Cave (http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thecave/)

I saw it at the local drive-in Sunday night. The previews for the movie made it look really cool, and as I hadn't heard anything about the movie before it hit theaters, I was hoping it would be one of those unexpectedly cool movies of the summer. I was wrong.

The movie uses a concept that isn't completely overdone yet and proceeds to not really do anything with it. The concept I mean is deep underground river exploration. It is kinda cool seeing how modern day science gears up for the task at hand, but the movie ends up being so bad it doesn't matter.

Since it takes place underground, the entire movie is done in dark settings. This can work well to increase suspense, but all the action scenes in this movie just have a lot of splashing water with flashlights waving around & not being able to see anything. The inter-character relationships & development are weak or lacking altogether as well.

Anyways, I don't tend to be a movie critic, as I find myself easily entertained by both blockbuster movies & the kind slammed by the public. This movie was just a waste of money imho, and I'm just posting to try & tell some of you to not waste yours. (2/10)

[Nulien]

I'd just like to make a comment on your point about the movie being dark, and not being able to see what's going on.

You were at a drive-in. I've always found that dark scenes in movies just don't work well at drive-ins. I first saw Jurassic Park at a drive-in, and could hardly see anything during the night-time scenes, but when I watched it in a theater it was much easier to see everything. It was like watching it for the first time again.

[Tristate0999]

I think the reason why they made it so dark was to help the CG people out with their monsters. I was hoping more would come out of this movie, but like Shadow I didn't see much come from it.

It's interesting if you like to see some technology of cave exploration. It has it's tense moments, but not too many. Overall 3/10, just cause I didn't have to pay for it.

[TheShadowFox]

I'd just like to make a comment on your point about the movie being dark, and not being able to see what's going on.

You were at a drive-in. I've always found that dark scenes in movies just don't work well at drive-ins. I first saw Jurassic Park at a drive-in, and could hardly see anything during the night-time scenes, but when I watched it in a theater it was much easier to see everything. It was like watching it for the first time again.

I am aware of this difference. I regularly go to Regal Cinemas (http://www.regalcinemas.com/) to see movies that I expect to enjoy as much for the special effects as the story. My local Drive In (http://www.transitdrivein.com) is good for seeing multiple movies and only paying once, and for taking the kids instead of getting a babysitter. They're normally asleep 1/3 of the way thru the first movie, but if I'm going to see something too violent for them to watch, I bring a Portable DvD player (http://www.mintekdigital.com/detail.asp?ProdID=MDP-1720) & they watch something like Shrek or Finding Nemo.

My point is that I can tell the difference between the drive in setting artificially making a movie darker than it is and the way the film was actually shot. My local drive in actually has surprisingly good quality projection (over other drive ins I've been to) and unless there's a full moon, the lighting of the movie is pretty close to an indoor theater.

Anyways, you don't have to take my word on it. Other people who have seen this movie, do you agree with my sentiment that the action scenes were shot so that it was too dark to see properly?