The Cave

Sony Pictures presents

Starring: Cole Hauser, Morris Chestnut, Eddie Cibrian, Piper Perabo

Directed by: Bruce Hunt

Rating: ***1/2

Plot: A group of  cave divers find bloody thirsty monsters in a virgin cave they explore. Sadly the monsters themselves might not be the only thing to worry about, soon their fellow divers could be just as big of a threat. Monster madness ensues.

Acting: I remember being very impressed by Cole Hauser's performance in Pitch Black and I even remember him playing a hell of a scum bag in 2 Fast 2 Furious. He can play dark very well and here he plays a lead hero who has some serious conflicts. Now before I go on I must warn you of SPOILERS I've been receiving complaints about my reviews giving away too much so here is he warning. Towards the middle of the movie the divers begin to figure out that not only do they have to worry about these bat monsters, but they carry a virus or parasite which basically will turn you into one. Hauser's character gets bit and he slowly changes, this I found interesting because he is the lead male but through the entire movie you're wondering if he can be trusted, or is he now acting under the monster instincts, or human. He was very good, the rest of the cast did what they had to and no one like out right sucked. It's just Hauser was the one who showed character development and the real problems.

Directing/Writing: Sadly you can tell this movie had budget problems. A lot of the action scenes are very shaky to make things not visible, simply because they lacked the money I am guessing. This hurt and helped the movie in many ways. The set up is great we see some explorers during the cold war fall into this cave and vanish, then we flash to present day where the divers plan to go into the cave. The location is good and you feel the isolation, it also helps a lot of the movie is set under water. The monsters at first are not even seen, just heard, this was great it gave the movie an Alien feel to it, since actually when the monsters appear things fall into the messy range. The problem here is the screenplay is solid with some cool ideas that the budget could not work with. So many action scenes which done with the right money and talent would have been amazing, here things come off silly or just so bad it takes you out of the movie. Mainly CGI when the monsters become CGI flying bat creatures they look so fake it takes you out of it. A couple money shots looked fine but a lot of the action was not well done. The puppets were perfect, slimy they were great and frankly should have only used them. Another fault this movie goes through is the list of the dead became predictable and boring, the typical white guys get knocked off first then one of the females. It was like you could have guessed who was going to die by watching the first five minutes of the movie. The movie also has a very odd ending. So it's choppy and messy in many places but also filled with life and imagination. So it was a good attempt at a great monster movie but no where close to as good as Alien or The Thing or even Mimic.

Overall: Monster fans should have a good time. I liked they tried some new ideas but I would have rather have the characters isolated in the cave longer, let the monster not be seen till the very end because the crappy CG ruined it for me at least. Still a good time especially if you like these types of movies, you should leave the theater with a smile on your face.