It's going to be a while before James Cameron is back on our screens, so in the meantime the next best thing for fans of bleeding-edge 3D and SFX looks like being James Cameron's Sanctum. The "James Cameron's" bit, aside from terrifying the little people who put up cinema signs no doubt still recovering from "John Carpenter Presents The Ward", should mean fully immersive 3D - the first time we've properly experienced Avatar-strength 3D in a watery environment. Glug.
We're obviously not counting** Piranha 3D **there, although that wasn't *too *terrible. But vaulting underwater caverns, bubbling scuba gear and thrilling scenarios involving ticking clocks and emptying oxygen tanks should raise the bar substantially in Sanctum. Shot in Queensland but set in New Guinea's unspoilt Esa-Ala caves, the plot seems more relevant by the day, as a crew of underwater cave divers find themselves cut off by flash floods and running out of air...
This new clip from the movie gives a flavour of all that and the twang of its largely Australian cast. Dan Wyllie, soon of the excellent Animal Kingdom, and Richard Roxburgh are joined by Welshman Ioan Gruffudd.
Gruffudd's the right man to have around: as TV's Hornblower he should know his way around tricky aquatic scenarios and as Mr. Fantastic he should manage to punch an escape route.
Serious claustrophics look away now: James Cameron's Sanctum is out on February 4.