DVD: “The Cave”
By stephanie - Sunday, April 30th, 2006
“The Cave” came out in theaters just last year and bombed. I didn’t even know the film existed, but couldn’t help but put it into my Blockbuster queue.
The premise is simple: A bunch of explorers get trapped in a cave with superpowerful creatures that have one thing on their mind: dinner.
As you can imagine, the plot is standard B-grade sci-fi. What sets “The Cave” apart is the interesting location (the cave, of course).
As a young child, I remember exploring Luray Caverns with my family. Caves can be quite beautiful, mysterious places, and certainly would make for an interesting film setting.
“The Cave” kind of gets that – but only partially. “Respect the cave,” says one explorer ominously prior to descent. Yet, the film didn’t quite wow with the cave itself. The water scenes were great, but the rest of the cave seemed a bit, well, fake. (Granted, I was watching this on a standard television set.)
I was happy to see Eddie Cibrian of “Invasion” fame playing a leading role. The acting was fine, even though the dialogue itself was straight sci-fi cheese.
The film also stretches credulity at times – seasoned spelunkers would hardly be stepping foot into a huge cavern filled with methane gas (you’d die) – but oh well. I still enjoyed seeing the explorers do their thing, as unbelievable as it was sometimes. At one point, a female, rock climbing, swings herself around on a belay rope like she’s Mary Martin in the stage version “Peter Pan.”
Overall, I found “The Cave” to be entertaining enough to be worth a rental. Your mileage may vary.