James Cameron co-produces this action-packed 3-D adventure which follows the struggles of a trapped cave-diving team desperately fighting for survival.

Directed by Alister Grierson, this Australian drama is inspired by the true-life events of co-writer Andrew Wight, who narrowly escaped death after a dangerous underwater diving expedition.

Universal Pictures teamed up with Relativity Media for this project which is guaranteed to send audience members on a thrilling journey of anticipation as they will for the recovery of the crew, free from the dangers of their treacherous voyage.

While the film flourishes through its use of stunning visuals from Cameron’s trademark 3-D technology, it appears that his artistic input remains somewhat absent from the essence of the plot.

I assume many viewers will long for the signature Cameron flair, which helped to turn movies like Titanic and Avatar into the ground-breaking blockbusters they proved themselves to be. But as the plot thickens and we follow master diver Richard Roxburgh (Mission: Impossible II) attempt to infiltrate the least accessible cave system on the planet, it seems that the characters lack the third-dimensional qualities so eagerly pumped into the photography of the film.

As they fall flat on extracting any likeability from the audience, we are left with a rather clichéd, less impressive version of 127 hours. While Grierson works well to create a claustrophobic tone through an extraordinary underwater set, the remarkable visuals aren’t enough to stop the Sanctum sinking in its lack of character depth and plot development.

The Blu-Ray/DVD edition does however boast some intriguing features, including a documentary on Wight’s tale and his inspiration behind the script, along with a technical featurette for the making of the film which reveals the interesting effects of sound-stage shooting.