Could have been a good movie...but just misses the mark
by - Written: Mar 26 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Started out great. Psychologically thrilling during the first half.
Cons: Turns into horror film.
The Bottom Line: Great for a Friday night with a significant other...hold his or her hand tight!
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| bablondie25's Full Review: The Descent |
The movie starts out with a group of women that reunite after one has lost a daughter in a car crash. They sort of plan this get-together adventure weekend to go cave climbing. Some unrealisitc aspects questions come up to me right away: how is it women out of "climbing" practice are going to a cave that would require one to be an EXPERT climber and how is they're in such good, physical shape? The answer: Hollywood. Okay, the real answer COULD be that they practiced climbing at their local REI store (The Wall) or something I suppose. But that's just the first question that popped up into my head as I started the movie. Yes, they used to be super athletic/climbers but then when settling down into their families: they must've kept up some physical fitness during those years they were away from climbing.
Then they're off to the cave. Yes, a little freaky. This isn't your typical climb up the side of a cliff type stuff: it's underground. Scary. Then they get trapped with their limited supplies. They begin lashing out on each other; "who's fault is it we are here", "did you get the right cave" "we wouldn't be here if..." and so on.
I feel the movie misses the mark because the first HALF of the movie is really good. I could see taking the psychological aspect of exploring and climbing a cave and then having an earthquake and having the women stuck in a dark cave without very much food, water, light (you know flashlight batteries can only last so long) with needing to find a way out and a bit of fear involved. THAT is scary enough. Psychologically speaking, they could go through fears and start "fearing" each other such as "is she going to steal my food", "should I follow her" and so on.
But then it goes on to introduce some scary elements that take a turn in the movie: cave demons (well, that's what I call them). By the time the girls run into them, my husband and I were thinking "what the heck are these?" and then we get disinterested. It takes a turn for the worst and begins on it's slasher/horror movie. I suppose as a horror movie; "The Descent" is "Decent". but as the previous, I thought it was: psychologically exciting/thriller-ish...it lacked.
Some other unrealistic things that happen: They are climbing away from the monsters and the women are hanging there by a couple of fingers for minutes at a time. TOTALLY UNREALISITIC and I don't care how IN SHAPE you are! I say this because even at my tip-top athletic shape, I ran a mile in under 6 minutes and could do 60 sit ups in a minute but I could NOT do the arm hang very long! That just made me roll my eyes right there.
An interesting peice of the plot I will reveal: one of the girls (in all of their fear) accidentally kills one of her fellow mates while hunting/killing the monsters but doesn't admit it to anyone...a scary reality that could happen in dark cave monster killings.
You can pretty much figure it out from here (a typical horror film is that they get picked off one by one). One or some may or may not get out in the end.
In my opinion, if the director would've stuck to the psychological of "turning on each other" mentality while stuck in an underground cave: EXCITING! But instead, he must've loved horror films growing up because he turned it into a "monsters hunt you down and kill you off one by one" movie.
Movie facts: (really, I didn't recognize any of the actors in this movie, but they did a good job anyway).
The Descent (2005) 99 minutes long
Director: Neil Marshall (I don't recognize any of his previous movies he's made)
Shauna McDonald (Sarah)
Natalie Jackson Mendoza (Juno)
Alex Reid (Beth)
Saskia Mulder (Rebecca)
MyAnna Buring (Sam)
Nora-Jane Noone (Olivia)
and a few more that make slight appearances in the film (see IMDB.com for more information).
For an interesting night and nothing to do: Go ahead and rent it...let the kids go to grandma's (not for kids or teens!). If you are TOTALLY into slasher/horror flicks: then you will love it. If you are into psychological thrillers: you will enjoy it a lot until the last half but at least try to enjoy that too. It was worth watching at least.
I give it 5 stars out of 10.
Recommended:
Yes
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