The Descent - Cinephelia.com Review

Rating: 2/10 (10 July 2006)

A few years ago I read review after review about how great Neil Marshall's "Dog Soldiers" was. I checked it out for myself and unfortunately I did not think it was good at all. Now "The Descent" has created positive buzz globally and I again fell for the positive buzz trap.
In his newest film Marshall produces a story about a group of women who are extreme sport enthusiasts and their spelunking vacation. I commend Marshall for making the film male free, but he didn't succeed in making me feel sorry for them b/c of this. I mean in 1960 sure, now no. The group finds themselves in an uncharted cave and running out of time to find the exit. The group keeps moving forward, pushingpushingtrying to make it out of this desperate situation.
Soon though they find that they are not alone. This was a generally intense moment, but from there the film drags out until it's ending. The group must now not only race to find an exit, they most race from the cave cannibals. The film failed for me really because there are times in the film where the drama requires the viewer to have an emotional tie with the characters. This bond was never created. If it was, then it was light and went missed.
"The Descent" is a film I could see a lot of people enjoying. However I feel it's a film that should be seen on cable where you don't have to pay attention. What do people see in his movies?