Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.6|5.0
Starsììì
The Descent beginning
scenes introduce, independent, over-the-top, ‘I don’t make an apology for my
life', ego-driven, masculine-oriented, testosterone-popping, young women who, by
the end of the movie, are crying for help like the best of any dependent, ‘damsel
in distress’, estrogen-loaded female ever depicted on big screen. This dramatic
change in character makes the film wobble and creates instability for the
viewing audience. It’s almost as if these six men-type women had sex change
operations while spelunking. Less masculinity at the beginning of the film and
less femininity at the end of the film will create realistic balance that
contributes to understanding the basic character of the six protagonists. The
film also troubles itself with a very
late introduction of horror via alien-type creatures, surprisingly like the
gollum in the Lord of the Rings series,
that comes as a complete shock as, up to this point, one is led to believe this
movie follows an ordinary caving story that works on the level of Sanctum, a superb spelunking movie. This
ill-timed twist in the storyline creates derailment, surprise, and strong need
to reconcile the thought, ‘Oh, this isn’t a spelunking movie highlighting the
thrills of caving.’ This not-for-children movie serves the late teen/adult
audience and serves up its share of gore and language.
Film Courtesy of Wikipedia
Storyline
Six
girls enter a cave and find an unexpected surprise at the exit.
Additional Thanks
Thank
you to Director Neil Marshall for directing effort. Thank you to Executive
Producer Paul Smith for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast
include: Sarah (Shauna Macdonald), Juno (Natalie Mendoza), Beth (Alex Reid),
Rebecca (Saskia Mulder), Sam (MyAnna Buring), Holly (Nora Jane Noone), Paul
(Oliver Milburn), Jessica (Molly Kayll), Crawler (Craig Conway), Crawler
(Leslie Simpson), Crawler (Mark Cronfield), Crawler (Steven Lamb), and Crawler
(Catherine Dyson).
Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?
Maybe.
The film fails in timing, performs on the amateur level in characterization,
and borrows horror from a classic film so that audience anticipation
experiences sharp let-down into the ‘we’ve seen that before’ mode. It’s a chick-flick
horror film, not the best in its class.
Video Critique Available Here:
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