Monday, November 26, 2012

Red Dawn


Let's talk about movies... This week we explore the wonderful world of "based upon" films. They're like Ligers (not entirely a tiger (reboot) or a lion (remake). They take a previously made film or previously published book and create a mashup of plotlines, characters, and other various elements arranged however it best pleases the filmmakers. I'm slightly biased against these "Mr. Potato-Head" creations as they rarely surpass the originals (and when you start messing with classic or beloved movies you'd damn sure better do it as good as, if not better than, the original). But there have been exceptions to the rule so let's see what this film does and if it can live up to it's big brother.  

This week on deck: Red Dawn

How it came to my attention:  Missed the showing of "Wreck it Ralph" I was going to review and decided to go see Red Dawn starting in 20 minutes rather than try another time for "Wreck it Ralph".

Going into it: Knew it was some sort of re-do of the 1984 film of the same name starring Patrick Swayze. The 2012 version stars Chris Hemsworth (I will watch anything that man graces with his presence).

Coming out of it: The curse of the "based upon" has struck again. That was mind-blowingly ridiculous in the worst way.

The Review/Recommendation: Don't watch it. I swear, I feel like the Grim Reaper of movies this month. If you've seen the 1984 version of Red Dawn you know that it broke cinematic ground (the Guinness Book of World Records considered it the most violent film at the time of it's release and it was the first film in the US to be released with the MPAA rating of PG-13). The 2012 "based upon" film of the same name was like a declawed sabretooth turned into a fat kitty that naps in the sun. It slammed garbled media rhetoric at you in the beginning relevant to our current time and political affiliations and stayed, initially, pretty consistent to the 1984 version (with a few tweaks). They took down the violence level tenfold and members of the resistance group kept dying off to the point where I wondered if anyone was surviving this thing. Red Dawn couldn't seem to decide whether or not it wanted to be a straight-up action film or a brother-bonding-family drama/action. I don't know if it was the casting (the teenagers looked too much like actual teenagers for me to believe they could kick ass) or something else I couldn't quite put my finger on, but this Red Dawn seemed somewhat inauthentic. The set-up felt contrived and the opening failed to establish enough plausible realism for me to buy into their premise. The antagonists never progressed beyond being one dimensional and Red Dawn suffered for it. Major plot-points got altered further on in the film and the ending was changed entirely. Red Dawn concludes abruptly with a death that didn't need to happen and a frustrating lack of anything resembling clear resolution (when the credits rolled I heard a guy behind me say "Seriously?!?" and I was totally on board with that dude). I don't know if they wanted to leave it open for a sequel (god forbid) but this film left me wishing I'd waited for "Wreck it Ralph". 


(Don't forget to check out MovieBoozer.com or Follow me on Twitter: @LuckoftheDraw86) 

The Recap (will most certainly contain spoilers): We open on marine Jed Eckhert (played by Chris Hemsworth) on leave in his hometown of Spokane, Washington. He runs into his father (town Police Sergeant Tom Eckhert-played by Brett Cullen) at his little brother's (Matt Eckhert-played by Josh Peck) football game. Matt is the QB and we see that he is good-natured and well-meaning but ultimately reckless in his decision-making. I'm smelling the unmistakable scent of foreshadowing hanging heavy in the air. We see a slice of small-town idyllic life as Matt meets his girlfriend Erica Martin (played by Isabel Lucas) after the game and she drops him off at home when an inexplicable power outage hits the town. Sergeant Eckhert leaves the boys at home to go investigate/provide emergency response.

The next morning the town is literally rocked by an invasion of tiny little mushrooms falling from the sky... Oh, no, that's definitely invading North Korean paratroopers. The guys scramble into their pickup truck as Matt witnesses an F-16 take out a cargo plane carrying deploying paratroopers. They run into their dad who leads them through the streets until they're blocked in and he tells them to go to their family cabin while he stays to help the townspeople. Matt gets Jed to attempt a rescue of his girlfriend, Erica, but by the time they get there her family has already been taken hostage and we catch our first glimpse of lead bad guy, Captain Cho (played by Will Yun Lee). The brothers flee the scene and pick up other teens along the way: Robert Morris (played by Josh Hutcherson), Daryl Jenkins (played by Connor Cruise) and Pete (played by Steve Lentz). The group makes it to the cabin where the eldest brother, Jed, takes direction and instructs everyone to look for supplies. Jed tells Robert to search for and set up any kind of radio or television equipment he can locate.  

Pete finds a handgun in the camper and hides it in his waistband. Instantly he moves from "one of the team" to "traitorous bastard that will eventually betray the group". A van approaches the cabin and Pete fires on it before seeing if they're hostile or not. Turns out that Sergeant Eckhert told some more teens where to hide. The newcomers who join the group include: Toni Walsh (played by Adrianne Palicki, Julie Goodyear (played by Alyssa Diaz), Greg Goodyear ( played by Julian Alcaraz) and Danny Smith (played by Edwin Hodge). Jed forcefully confiscates Pete's pistol as he has demonstrated that he isn't capable of using it responsibly. They bunk in for the night and awake to an uncertain future but a reality  in which Pete has stolen all of their food supplies and left. Pete goes and surrenders to the North Koreans, telling them of the cabins location in order to ensure his survival.

Captain Cho mounts an assault on the cabin with a small number of his troops. The group escapes to the woods and spies on the Captain. Cho brings out Mayor Jenkins (played by Michael Beach) who is Daryl's father. Major Jenkins tries unsuccessfully to get them to surrender and next up to bat is Sergeant Eckhert who gives a Swan Song of rebellion and vengence, telling his boys to fight, and keep fighting until they are free, or dead. Captain Cho executes him on the spot as the group watches from the woods, not giving up their position. After they re-group in a safer location, Jed announces he is going to fight like his father asked him to, the others in the group also decide to fight and name themselves "Wolverines" after their school mascot. Good thing they weren't the Bullfrogs or Fluffy Bunnies. 

Cue a half-assed training montage and then they get down to the business of sabotage. The Wolverines steal weapons from the North Koreans and get in a little target practice with Jed. The Wolverines escalate to attacking checkpoints, stealing even more weapons and leaving their name spray-painted on public areas. This begins to inspire the locals and annoy the North Koreans. During one of the attacks the team sees their turncoat friend, Pete, outside a target location. Matt gets his attention and flips him the bird before blowing him, and the target, sky high. There's a funny accidental raid on Subway where a couple of the boys make off with a bag full of sandwiches and a tub of soda. It's a welcome respite from the killing to see that they can still have fun even in the most desperate of circumstances.

Sometime during this time Jed and Toni get a little twitter-pated, though considering their dating pool it was only a matter of time. Matt has secured his place, almost de-facto due to his relation to Jed, as second-in-command. The Wolverines plan an attack on a North Korean/Allies rally and Matt leaves his post to chase after Erica when he spots her in a prison transport bus. Greg is killed attempting to help him (there's that recklessness again, this time with more severe consequences than losing a football game). Matt and Erica escape and make it back to their camp in the woods where we see Jed getting stitched up and Matt learns that Greg is dead. He takes off into the woods for three days. Seems logical when you've been pining for your girl for who-knows-how-long to leave her and go sulk. Totes. Captain Cho gets pressured from a higher-up and he assures him the "terrorists" will not live through the night. Cho located the group and he bombs their camp and the surrounding woods which looks bathed in flames when the survivors scramble out from their tunnels. Julie and Danny die in the blast. 

The surviving Wolverines run into some US Marines from USMC Alpha Company later on and we meet Sergeant Major Andrew Tanner (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Smith (played by Kenneth Cho) and Hodges (played by Matt Gerald). They say their looking for a guerrilla group called the Wolverines in order to get their help with a vital mission critical to Free America's fight against the invasion. Jed reveals who the group is and we learn that they're after EMP-resistant communications technology (specifically a radio telephone that allows North Korea to keep in contact with each other and their allies). The Wolverines agree to help the Marines steal the tech. They stage a raid on the police station where Cho has set up his command. Jed ends up fighting Captain Cho in his father's old office and a hidden gun safe yields his dad's old IDs and a handgun which Jed uses to kill Cho after saying that he "messed with the wrong family".

Matt steals the suitcase phone and Hodges is killed backing up the operation. They escape but Daryl gets into a scuffel with anti-insurgent Russian specialists and somehow "escapes". In reality they tagged him with a tracker and let him go. The Wolverines make it back to their new base of operations in the city and they celebrate with beer and Jed and Toni make googly-eyes at each other. Nary a kiss has been exchanged, from anyone, and that is wrong. If you were a group of teenagers on the run from almost certain death I can practically guarantee that there would be sex. Especially considering the hormones and adrenaline flying around those kids. But I digress, the North Koreans attack the Wolverines and Jed is killed abruptly and I'm in shock. I thought for certain Jed, Matt, Erica and Toni were making it out of this thing alive. Toni practically loses her shit and gets dragged away and the survivors escape. 

The group piles into a station wagon and somewhere down the road they realize that Daryl had been tagged like they do to wild game; the group stops to consider their options. Some want to abandon him and some want to keep him in the group. Daryl sacrifices himself and they leave him gear and supplies and the last thing we see is Daryl waving sadly to the Wolverines as they drive off. He offered to hold back the North Koreans and we don't see him die, but it's a certainty as he's never seen again. The Marines leave with the suitcase phone in their chopper and they offer the survivors sanctuary in Free America but Matt declines and says they'll stay to fight.

Now led by Matt, the team stages raids on prisoner camps in order to recruit more Wolverines to fight the invasion and we close out on Matt's voiceover, which is word for word Jed's speech to the original group of Wolverines when he convinced them to fight. Toni, Erica and Robert surround Matt as he speaks, looking hardened and battle weary yet competent and ready to fight. The screen cuts to black. Credits Roll. 
  







Sunday, November 11, 2012

Skyfall


Let's talk about movies... This week is about the latest and greatest playing in theaters. There used to be a certain pageantry about going to the theater; an excitement about what was playing, visiting concessions and seeing the previews. Now instead of being first in line on opening day, I usually wait a few weeks, then slink in at an awkward time to avoid crowds. I bring my own snacks (once even sneaking in an entire pizza) so I won't have to get a small loan in order to afford concessions. I arrive early to get the best seats and hope for an empty theater because odds are good someone will talk/answer a phone/text during the film, causing me to experience a hulk-like rage for ruining my viewing experience. I'll venture out like a groundhog at the end of winter for the big ticket items that need to be seen on the big screen. This week's movie was one of them.

This week on deck: Skyfall

How it came to my attention:  As a lifelong Bond fan I was looking forward to the latest installment in the Bond series and had plans to attend opening day.

Going into it: It's a Bond film. I knew there would be a bad guy, a sexy girl in trouble, and lots and lots of gunshots.

Coming out of it: I felt let down by what had been hyped (perhaps overly so) as the greatest Bond film in the series to date. 

The Review/Recommendation: Don't watch it. I know, it's sacrilege in the House of Bond to malign the once and future king of spies... But I just wasn't buying what Skyfall was selling. The best part of the movie was the title sequence with Adele's song. It was confusing from the start. We watched Casino Royale rock the world of Bond and reinvent the spy, bringing him into modern times while keeping that swagger and panache that made the character iconic. It was a revelation of a film. Skyfall was a confused mashup of the old and the new. It attempted to resurrect the Bond of old whilst maintaining a foot in the new world as the gap of time widened further. The pacing felt off as action was followed by dragging exposition, and staring out of windows, then more halting action and finally an abrupt end. Casino Royale taught us, and Bond, that he needed to be an emotionally constipated bastard in order to survive a spies' life, and it was a lesson he learned the hard way. Skyfall decided to open that door up again... And the last thing I want to watch is James Bond doing anything other than shooting, screwing, or spying. There was some good in the film but it was outweighed by all the other frustrations. Skyfall felt like a filler piece, the villain wasn't remotely terrifying, the acting felt off, and the ending was unsatisfying. And. There. Was. No. Bond. Girl. Sure, one was technically featured for about a minute but lacked chemistry with Bond and failed to engender anything resembling interest in her character. Wait for it to come out on DVD if you must see it, but you'd probably get more out of re-watching Casino Royale. Or any other Bond film. 


(Don't forget to check out MovieBoozer.com or Follow me on Twitter: @LuckoftheDraw86) 

The Recap (will most certainly contain spoilers): We cold open on Bond in a dark hallway with an exaggerated artsy-noir shot of his eyes. It's a spy film, it's a spy film, it's a spy film, I repeat to myself in order to swat away the eye-roll welling up in my soul. MI6 agents James Bond (played by the delectable Daniel Craig) and Eve (played by Naomi Harris) are on an inscrutable mission in Turkey and peeps are dying left and right. J. Bond stops to save a fellow agent and is ordered to let that poor bastard die in favor of pursuing a thief who has stolen what I gather to be some important information. Gone are the days in which royal jewels were stolen or princesses kidnapped. Now in the virtual age real people die in the cause of 0s and 1s. Information is the new black and everyone is wearing it. 

We learn that Bond is after a hard drive stolen from MI6 that has the secret identities of almost every NATO agent embedded undercover in terrorist organizations. They're chasing a mercenary named Patrice (played by Ola Rapace) through a bazaar and over rooftops as M (played by Judi Dench) and Agent Tanner (played by Rory Kinnear) backseat spy the whole time. Bond flings himself onto a moving train in the heat of pursuit and engages in a firefight with Patrice then climbs into a construction backhoe and looks like he's trying to whack-a-mole that sumbitch off the train but he catches a bullet in his shoulder and Patrice shoots out the coupling between the railcars. Bond sinks the backhoe's teeth into the adjacent railcar and hops into the cabin just as the other car tears away. All in all it's pretty badass. Dude's got swagger. As the fight progresses Bond and Patrice end up on top of the train again wrestling for the hard drive as Eve sniper-tracks their progress and is forced to shoot Bond in an attempt to kill Patrice. M ordered the hit and the seeming betrayal/doubt in the redoubtable Bond is shocking. 

Bond falls from the train and is lost to a rushing river and we segway into the opening title sequence with Adele's original song Skyfall. It's amazing. One of the best songs and opening Bond sequences of all time. Bond has not resurfaced and is considered K.I.A (killed in action). We cut to M writing his obituary; think she'll put in "I ordered the shot that killed him"? Perhaps not. She's neck-deep in alligators anyhow, so I doubt she'd have time for guilt. Apparently cocking up a giant leak of information is not good for anyone's career, most especially one in espionage and M is called to task in the teacher's office (Chairmain of the Intelligence and Security Committee, Gareth Mallory-played by Ralph Fiennes). On her way back to MI6, the agency is hacked and her office is blown up along with a good chunk of MI6.

Bond somehow gets the news in his hole-in-the-wall digs. Surprise! He's alive. Though I doubt anyone was truly taken aback considering he's a franchise staple. He reappears in M's home, sitting alone in the dark. Not creepy at all. She doesn't blink at his appearance and I can't tell if it's due to internal fortitude or a lifetime of spying. They trade witty barbs and he returns to the fold a little battered and the worse for wear (both mentally and physically). He sucks his way back to active duty and in the process ghetto-yanks some bullet fragments out his shoulder and helps identify the mercenary, Patrice, and tracks him to Shanghai. Bonds meets the Q of legend and the modern version is a young techno-punk who tosses insults back and forth with Bond that are just this side of professional. Q gives Bond a smart gun that will only fire in his hand and a tiny GPS tracker. They make a joke about expecting exploding pens and I'm on board. Where is the lair of old? The unexpected devices and stellar technology designed to help Bond win the day? This is bullshit. You can't give me Q and twist him past the point of recognition. Skyfall promises the Bond of yore and thumbs its nose at the very institution it's expected to deliver. Unbelievable. Some blowback happens from the now-decrypted hard drive and it gets several NATO agents dead.

J.B. lands in Shanghai, kills some time, tracks Patrice from the airport to a high rise where he follows him and eventually witnesses a hit on an unknown target. Bond and Patrice get sweaty for a minute and trade some fairly impressive fighting moves before Patrice takes a little trip then a big fall. The mercenary dies before telling Bond who bought the NATO list but Bond discovers a casino chip in Patrice's sniper case that he tracks to Macau. There he meets the co-called Bond Girl of the film, Severine (played by Berenice Marlohe). She plays the part of the cold seductress but crumbles at the first mention of her employer. She's literally so terrified that she almost pisses herself when talking about him. This is quite the buildup. She tells him of her boat that is leaving in an hour and that if Bond can make it out alive he's welcome to join her as long as he promises to kill her boss. 

Bond kicks some ass and then goes and gets some ass. They sail to an impressively fortified island that reminds me a little of Waterworld. They get taken hostage, trussed up and delivered like Thanksgiving turkeys to the Big Bad, Raoul Silva (played by Javier Bardem). Silva wears maniacal mastermind like an ill-fitting coat. There's something slightly off about him that I can't quite put my finger on. He makes a passing nod at trying to turn Bond against MI6, and M, but it's a C+ effort at best. As lairs go it's hardly intimidating being surrounded by computer servers. There's a blip of life on the EKG when Silva caresses Bonds face and chest during questioning, followed by stroking his thighs. A bi-sexual villain? What a breath of fresh air! But alack; that's as far as the "interrogation" goes. Silva turns out to be a cranky ex-MI6 agent that M disavowed when he was captured and left to die in the hands of the Chinese. Scorned ex-employee? Don't tax yourselves here, writers. 

Bond and Silva pop outside to have a quick word with Severine before she gets capped. Skyfall runs two and a half hours long. I can practically measure on one hand the number of minutes the Bond Girl gets of screen time. It's not enough for me to even feel a twinge at her passing; so, failure on that front. Bond captures Silva and takes him back to the new MI6 to be questioned. Q hacks Silva's laptop inadvertantly triggering a bypass of MI6 security protocols and faciitating Silva's escape into the Underground tunnel system dressed as a police officer. He goes to attack M at yet another scolding for her old school spy ways. Lot's of references to fighting in shadows. I'm sorry, but am I really listening to people argue whether or not Bond should continue being Bond? I've heard nothing but people whining about how old he is, how out of date he is and how he's a veritable dinosaur of espionage. Funny how I just noticed the bags under Bond's eyes. But I digress; M knows she's in danger and gives what I believe to be her swan song (some weird quote her late husband once said). I fully expect M to die here; but no! Bond shows up in the nick of time and gets his mojo back while saving the day and psuedo-kidnapping M to safety. For a criminal, ex-spy, mastermind that's been leading MI6 around by the nose this entire time, that attack on M was incredibly heavy-handed and felt a lot like a neglected puppy yapping for attention rather than a vicious bulldog going for the jugular. Methinks the former teacher's pet is a little cranky about being put in detention and all he really wants is attention. And maybe a hug. And, on second thought, maybe some new teeth.

Bond and M ditch the company car for something a bit more obscure. I know! How about a random, old-school, original Bond car, complete with ejector seat and headlight machine guns? Totes Incogs (that's tweeny bopper for "totally incognito"). Where did Bond get this car? Is he aware that if he owns it then it's probably not under the radar? Do we really need nostalgia for nostalgia's sake? I feel like Skyfall has shoved a lot of things like this at us purely because they could, and for no logical reason. The dynamic duo drive to Bond's childhood home, Skyfall Lodge, to hide out and dangle M like a shiny lure for Silva to follow. Q does some techno magic sanctioned by Mallory (who's now on board with Team Old School) and lays a trail of clues for Nancy Drew to follow out to the Lodge.

Bond and M encounter the Lodge's gamekeeper, Kincade (played by Albert Finney) and batten down the hatches... Literally. They've got three and a half guns between them and we enter the Twilight Zone of Home Alone. They cobble together some improvised incediary devices and traps (I'm sorry, are we on a crossover episode of Burn Notice that I'm unaware of?) and wait. Now is the time for some more pensive staring out of the window, courtesy of M. Insert some awkward talk about Bond's tragic loss of his parents as a child (saw this coming from earlier, psych eval anyone?) and pretty heavy foreshadowing when Kincaide shows M the Priest's Hole aka secret tunnel out of the house in case of emergency.

Silva's henchmen arrive and the trio ward off the first wave of attackers, though M gets shot in the process (she hides the wound... Yeah, that'll end well). Silva arrives by helicopter and I think he's going to shoot a freaking missile at the house and torch the place. It's what I'd do if I were an evil genius. But no, Bond and Silva play Arsonists-Ring-Around-The-Rosy for a bit while Kincaide and M escape via the Priest's Hole and head to the Chapel. Bond blows up a couple propane tanks with some leftover dynamite (which I'm sure once he brushed the cobwebs off would totally be stable and work, no problem). The shockwave sends the helicopter into a tailspin where it crashes, killing a bunch of Silva's henchmen. Silva sees a light bobbing off in the distance now that the glow from Bond's boyhood home has backlit the area. It's the Scottish Moors, I'd chalk that up to a Will-O-The-Wisp but no such luck here; Silva pursues. 

Bond wakes up, brushes some dirt off his shoulder... Again literally, and sprints toward the Chapel. He ninja-kills some leftover goons along the way, thus proving our girl Stella totally Got Her Groove Back. He runs into Silva after he makes the super sound decision to walk across a frozen lake. I'm not even sure it was a shortcut. The last little mercenary jumping on the bed attacks Bond and they fall through the ice, mimicking the opening title sequence. Bond dispatches Nameless Evil-Doer #27 and we flash to the interior of the Chapel where Silva has cornered a surprisingly meek M (I'm assuming bloodloss has stolen her chutzpah). Silva goes full-on whack-job and holds a gun in M's hand, begging her to kill them both with the same bullet. Silva has gone round the bend; starting from slightly-menacing-yet-sane, to obsessively-logical-yet-creepy, to waaaaaay out in the left field of bugnuts-crazy.

Bond again arrives just in time and straight-up puts Silva down like a rabid dog. M then collapses and bleeds out in Bond's arms as I think I see him tear up if not outright cry. Seriously? They wasted M's death. If she was going to die, it should have been after her bitchin' spy-speech (as a martyr for the cause) thus causing Bond to avenge her in true baddass spy-style. Instead, we get a dumbstruck Kincaide looking on as Bond rocks his surrogate Mommy in sorrow. Lame. M's post in MI6 is taken by Mallory (the new "M") while Bond formally meets Mallory's new secretary Eve, Eve Moneypenny (she makes a crack about "close shaves", calling to mind their earlier sexcapades, and I roll my eyes). Bond walks into "M"s office where "M" tosses a secret folder on the table and says they've got a lot of work to do and that Bond is the man they need to do it. Are. You. Serious? They spent the entire movie harping on how over-the-hill and washed-up Bond was and suddenly he's the Golden Child? A full 180 degree turn? Even considering movie magic, I'm calling bullshit. They took the degradation of Bond too far for me to believe it could bounce back that much on any level of believability. Bond says he's ready. Credits Roll. 






Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Descent



Let's talk about movies... Happy Halloween everybody!! This week I bring you a special review, a little ahead of schedule, in honor of All Hallows Night. I've always appreciated horror films that broke out of the expected casting mold. More often than not there is a formula that's followed when putting together a cast, no matter what the plot. You have your hero/heroine, the slightly slutty girl, the virginal girl, the goofy sidekick, and the sarcastic asshole. Those are the broadest and most commonly seen horror film archetypes; and I love them for what they are. Don't get me wrong, they're comforting like an old hat or long-term relationship. But you need to break out of the mold every once in awhile and shake it up. This week's selection has the original twist of an all female cast.

This week on deck: The Descent

How it came to my attention: Saw it in theaters and reunited with it during a DVD splurge in college. Decided to watch it again to see how well it's held up over time.

Going into it: I vaguely remember being terrified when watching it years ago. 

Coming out of it: Was thrown into a tailspin of introspection and floored by the deeply impactful philosophy behind the film. 

The Review/Recommendation:

Watch It: The Descent does exactly what it promises it will do. It terrifies you. Not only with blood and guts and monsters, but with cold psychological truths as well. We can pretend that humanity is universal and that when push comes to shove the better nature in all of us will prevail. That is true in many cases, especially when ones own well being is not called into jeopardy. The Descent portrays with chilling accuracy the brutality of human nature. The nature that will, at its very core, care only about self-preservation. The epitome of this is portrayed in the character Juno. This film shows that even in the best of us, as with Sarah, there is still the potential for ruthlessness. There are powerful visuals and a haunting musical score to accompany the thrills and chills. So watch this movie with your nearest and dearest and look around the room afterward. Can you trust everyone you love and who loves you? We can only ever truly know our own minds and selves. But after watching this film, even that is called into question. The horror here is not anything created by monsters; the horror in The Descent is made entirely by man.


(Don't forget to check out MovieBoozer.com or Follow me on Twitter: @LuckoftheDraw86) 

The Recap (will most certainly contain spoilers): The film opens on a few ladies (Juno-played by Natalie Mendoza, Sarah-played by Shauna Macdonald, and Beth-played by Alex Reid) white-water rafting down some pretty intense rapids in Scotland while Sarah's husband Paul (played by Oliver Milburn) and daughter (played by Molly Kayll) watch along the shore cheering them on. They dock the raft and climb out and I'm sensing an undercurrent of tension between Juno and Paul that both Beth and Sarah pick up on to some degree, but ignore. The idyllic facade is an early precursor to the rest of the film, letting us know that nothing will be as it seems. Two minutes in and they've got me hooked.


Sarah and her family begin driving back to their lodging but get into an accident where both father and daughter die. Sarah wakes up in the hospital sometime later looking like Million Dollar Baby and breaks down sobbing in the middle of the hallway whilst passersby ignore her like she's a hobo asking for a dollar. Not even a wayward glance gets thrown at her; I can't tell if its out of respect or sheer indifference to the human plight.    

We flash to the Appalachian Mountains a year later where the group plus a few have met to reconnect. They're staying in what can only be kindly termed a cabin. We meet sisters Sam (played by MyAnna Buring) and Rebecca (played by Saskia Mulder) along with newcomer Holly (played by Nora-Jane Noone). The group reminisces and laughs through the night and we see the gentle side of life; the easy camaraderie between people who have no doubts about seeing their next day. 

Morning comes and we follow Juno on her jog and then cheery wake-up calls to the group. They get together and take a group photo but even the shutter clicking sounds ominous followed by a black and white rendering of the image that I look at wondering who, if anyone, other than Sarah will ever look at again. Given her previous tragedies if anyone is making it out alive, it's her. The group heads out on the road toward Boreham Caverns, from all descriptions an easy system to spelunk. But things are just a little bit off and I'm smelling bullshit in the air anytime Juno opens her mouth. One of the group starts listing off all the rules and things that can go wrong with caving. Now I know what rules they'll definitely be breaking and all the things that will most likely happen to them. But at least they make time to stop and poke a dead deer with a stick. Priorities and all. 

They reach the mouth of the cave and rappel down. After a few minutes admiring nature's beauty, Sarah gets the shit scared out of her by a horde of bats. They start crawling through a tiny passage following Juno and are led to an underground cavern where they light some red red flares giving the scene an eery feeling. They break for lunch and some awkward conversation between Juno and Sarah before they head out on the next passage. I'm not really claustrophobic but neither love nor money could get me to go through something that tight. Sarah is the last to go, gets stuck, freaks out, and makes it out narrowly avoiding being crushed to death by a cave-in. 

We find out now that they aren't in the Boreham Caves but an entirely unknown system and therefore cannot count on any rescue but their own. After some bitching and bickering they press onward into another open crevasse which they have to cross. Rebecca free climbs across to set the rope line for the others and I'm pretty sure she's a BAMF, hands down. Juno free climbs last to save the rope they already have. A piton fails and Juno slams into the rock face but is helped up by the group. Rebecca injures her hand in the process of saving Juno. They see a cave painting depicting two ways out and move on. We see the first glimpse of our monster in an alcove off the cave, drooling and clicking like a bat. 

The group finds a likely passage and Holly dives headlong into it first, recklessly pursuing an exit. She slips and is caught by Juno before she falls into a hole. Juno can't hold on and Holly falls and breaks her leg on the way down. That son of a bitch snapped and is poking out of her leg like a turkey's wishbone. If you're squeamish you'll want to look away for the next few minutes. Sarah wanders off and sees a Golem-like creature ahead in the tunnel. They disregard Sarah and move forward dragging an injured Holly. They might as well be dragging a bleeding gazelle across the plains. The group stumbles across an underground boneyard filled with the skeletons of dead animals. They panic and start screaming; Voldemort's second cousin pops in for a visit.  

The group freaks out again and runs but is cut off by the cave crawler and it rips out Holly's throat. Juno sees Holly's still alive (her pupils dilate) and tries to save her but is held off by the crawler. Sarah sprints into a tunnel and slips, hitting her head while falling into another cave. Juno is still fighting the crawler for Holly with her pickaxe when another crawler attacks her from behind. She kills it but her battle reflexes cause her to spin around and attack the threat behind her before realizing it's Beth and she stabs the axe into Beth's throat. Beth falls to the ground and clutches Juno's necklace. She reaches out to Juno, but a stunned Juno backs out of the cave and leaves Beth to die. I'm pretty sure that's grounds for removing someone from your Christmas Card list.

Sam and Rebecca have splintered off from the group and are followed by a crawler. Sarah wakes up and finds human remains in the cave where she fell. She stumbles across Holly being eaten by the crawlers and is forced to watch in order to remain hidden. Rebecca and Sam huddle in a cave while Juno goes to look for Sarah. We observe that while the crawlers appear human in origin they look like blind, slimy albinos who have evolved to live underground and navigate purely by echolocation.

An alarm on Sam's watch goes off and she chucks it away. Juno starts yelling again, drawing the crawlers to her while Sarah lights a torch and the sisters keep looking for a way out. They are pursued by crawlers before being saved by Juno; she convinces them to go look for Sarah (who has discovered Beth still alive) . Beth tells Sarah what Juno did to her and Sarah doesn't believe her until she discovers Juno's pendant in her hand that Beth tells her Paul gave to Juno. It has his saying "Love Each Day" written on the back. Sarah comes to the realization that not only did Juno mortally wound her best friend, she had an affair with her husband. Beth asks Sarah to kill her to end her suffering and Sarah, though reluctant, does so with mercy. 


Sarah then kills two crawlers while Sam and Rebecca are killed elsewhere by ever more crawlers. There seems to be an unending amount of these things down in the caves. I find it hard to believe that they have gone undiscovered with the amount they would need to consume to sustain such a large population. Juno escapes the crawlers that killed Rebecca and Sam and is helped by Sarah who asks her what happened to the others and, specifically, if she saw Beth die. Juno says she did and you can see something change in Sarah's eyes when she hears Juno's lie. 

The pair explore for a way out and fight off another group of crawlers after which Sarah reveals to Juno the pendant she got from Beth. Neither one of them say a word and yet there's a whole conversation. Accusation, affirmation, condemnation, and finally judgement. Sarah stabs Juno's kneecap with a pickaxe and leaves her, wounded, to face an oncoming horde of crawlers. Sarah forges on and we hear Juno's last screams before Sarah falls down a hole knocking herself unconscious... Again. I mean, seriously, how many times is she going to fall down a hole, knock herself out and wake up untouched? There are a million monsters in that cave, who has that kind of luck? There's light on Sarah's face and she regains consciousness to see a small path toward daylight. Sarah desperately scrambles up a pile of bones heading to the surface and breaks free to the outside world. It's almost surreal when she makes it to her car and drives off. She stops at the side of the road and throws up, turning to find an apparition of a dead Juno sitting next to her in the passenger seat. 

Sarah wakes up back in the cave and we discover she never made it out. She again sees her daughter sitting in front of her with a birthday cake and lit candles. We hear the crawlers drawing closer and see that Sarah is only staring at her torch. Oblivious to the danger, Sarah smiles as the screen cuts to black. Credits roll.