The Cave (2005)

 

During the Cold War, a group of Soviet and British plunderers begin to excavate an abandoned 13th-century abbey in the Carpathian Mountains. As they set up a dynamite charge, the floor splits beneath them and they fall through to the bottom of a vast cave system. They descend further into the cave in the hope of finding a way out, and hear strange rattling sounds in the darkness.

In the present, a team led by Doctors Nicolai and Jennings, are excavating the same site. They discover mysterious mosaics and a river that stretches for miles inside the cave system. Local biologists believe the cave could contain an undiscovered ecosystem, so Nicolai and Jennings hire a group of professional American divers to assist with the exploration.

Hiring specialists is sensible: cave-diving is extremely hazardous. There's no light except what you bring, the water is often murky with sediment, it is easy to get lost, and equipment can malfunction. In fact, when the team shortly after the team begin their exploration, the last of these risks seems to eventuate when they lose contact with their forward scout.

But of course, this is not wilderness survival film, it's a monster movie, as the team very quickly discover. It seems there is far more to worry about, down in the dark, than just the usual hazards of of cave diving.

Despite a surprisingly recognisable cast including Piper Perabo, Lena Headey, Daniel Dae Kim and Cole Hauser, this film suffered from bad reviews and audience disinterest: its worldwide gross only barely exceeded its $30 million production budget, indicating a significant loss for the studio.

The Cave's chances were probably not helped on either the critical or commercial front by the timing of its release.  It came out around six weeks after The Descent, a movie with a very similar premise.  Those chances certainly weren't helped by the fact that The Descent is a far better film.

The Cave's biggest issue is that the majority of characters are ultimately interchangeable 'shreddies': paper-thin archetypes lacking any depth, who are clearly all present only to get killed and this prove that the situation is dangerous.  In comparison, The Descent gives more depth to its smaller cast, providing us with insights into their history and their relationships with each other.  The Cave's characters are basically just a bunch of people who work (and die) together.

The film is also staged, shot and scored more like an action film that a horror movie.  Action-horror can work, of course.  Just look at Predator, whose "monster vision" technique this movie copies, or Aliens.  It doesn't work here, however, because the film ultimately never looks to generate any tension between its monster attack set-pieces.  It's too occupied with expounding on its rather fanciful creature ecology; presumably because the writers thought their final stinger was much more thrilling  than it actually is, and wanted it as fully foreshadowed as possible.

 

Alas, while some of the action sequences are quite good in and of themselves, the film also doesn't really work as a pure action film, because the emotional stakes of those scenes are generally so low.  It's too obvious how many of these cast members are disposable, and (with one admitted exception), I didn't really care whether they would survive their current predicament.  Another one just like it, with a barely differentiated victim/survivor, would doubtless be along shortly.

I will admit that parts of the movie certainly look good.  It has some second unit footage of real cave divers interspliced into the narrative.  These sequences show off the visual wonders of real world underwater/waterlogged cave systems, which are often as beautiful as they are dangerous.  All of the "story" sequences of the movie are actually filmed on sets though, which is more practical, much safer, and also ecologically more sensible.  These sets are solid work, but to my mind, not anywhere near as arresting as the real thing.

I can't recommend visiting The Cave.