"Never Mess With A Super-Powered Teen": Chronicle

"Pride goeth before a fall"

Hubris. its the moment when, after prolonged denial and deprivation and struggle, you suddenly find that everything is going your way, everyone seems to love you or think you're "the greatest" and you're at the top of the world. the moment of supreme triumph is also the moment of greatest danger.

That notion is superbly illustrated in this admirable teen "thriller" from co-writer director Josh Trank. The film opens with the viewfinder of a video camera, and that initial narrow angle - expanded to reveal the advancement of the plot becomes a leit-motif for the entire film.

Andrew (Dane DeHann) the one holding the aforementioned camera, is in a box. His mother is dying, and his father, a Seattle firefighter choosing to sit on an injury disability, is abusive and suspicious. his cousin Matt (Alex Russell) is a "classics-quoting" philosophy/psychology student trying to make the adjustment from high school to impending adult life and to come to grips with his feelings for a young co-ed (Ashley Hinshaw), who as it turns out, is also in the habit of recording most of her life's event s on video cam. Steve (Michael B Jordan) is the class socialite and aspiring politician.

While at a party (where else?), they go off to explore a mysterious cave, a journey which turns up a strange crystalline substance, the contact with which imparts to them the power to bend and move objects and, not unexpectedly, to fly.its this last power, discovered about halfway through this brisk (less than 90 minutes) movie that puts them, literally, on top of the world.

And where the film takes a decidely dark turn, as each of three, now bonded by their newfound abilities, must also now reconcile them with their respective realities. When Andrew, resisting one of his father's onslaughts, say "I could crush you!" only the audience knows just how true this assertion is, and similarly, when Matt says to Casey, "I'm different now" she has little clue as to the extent of that  change.

Also, like any newfound wealth, their powers soon amplify the worst aspects of their personalities, and the bond between them - especially on Andrew's side - begin to rapidly unravel. Here, in taking this conflict past its logical extreme, the film also loses a bit of its footing, but recovers enough so that, by the end, we can see it as more than just a mash-up of Tales From the Crypt, Blair Witch Project and that other teen superpower movie, I Am Number Four.

It may be shorter, but it shows a lot more, and to better effect.

Going Deep, but Always Going Down: Sanctum Movie Trailer Official (HD)

About halfway through this vanity project, billed as "Executive Produced by James Cameron, director of Avatar and Titanic" the conclusion is hard to avoid: one is watching the aquatic-adventure equivalent of "Predator" or "The Nightmare on Elm Street" series, where the only fun that may remain is guessing which one of the cast is about to die next. 


The premise offers considerable prospects of escapist entertainment, if you're not creeped out by caves or extended underwater sequences: a group of explorers is deep inside one of the largest cave systems in the world, when a tropical cyclone above ground floods out their bas e station and forces them to find a possible way out by merely following the flow of the underground river.


The motley crew includes a crusty adventure-junkie, his estranged son, three associates, and the rich thrill-seeker who is financing the initial exploration, and who has brought his girlfriend along.  Things start out interestingly enough until the storm blows in and at that point, the body count begins to ratchet up, leading to frayed tempers and despair among the survivors. 


Richard Roxburgh as self-appointed leader Frank, is the best of the actors, but his obviously strained relationship with his son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) doesn't provide the tension that one requires. As the multi-millionaire playboy, Ioan Gruffudd (say 'Griffith") seems to have lost his way, content to merely shout his way through his scenes as if bluster automatically equates to emotion.  


Make no mistake, under director Alistair Grierson, Sanctum is marvelously shot. In particular, there's an early sequence in which we are afforded a bird's-eye view of the gaping mouth of the cave, looming like some giant catchment tank in the midst of the tropical jungle. For such a large system, in such a location, the cave is inexplicably devoid of wildlife, and this pristine nature leaves the movie feeling even more artificial, like a massive soundstage (which it almost certainly was).


Sanctum may well be one of those movies where a DVD viewing may be more in order, where the additional manipulation available may relieve the tedium of the action.