Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Robert J. Maxwell One of the earliest European visitors to the Grand Canyon paused at the lip and mused, "Something happened here." Not too much happens in the movie, in which we see the Grand Canyon only from the air in a few stock shots.The territory in which the film was shot -- Moab and its surroundings -- is striking in itself. There is an unforgettably long high bridge at nearby Page, dedicated to someone who died building it and "became part of the river he loved." If it weren't for the fact that a real death was involved, the dedication would be as amusing as this movie.Two honeymooners -- the slightly reckless Eion Bailey and the sumptuous and sensible Yvonne Strahovski -- hire the "colorful" old geezer, Will Patton, to take them on a mule trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, then, with their assent, leads them off the trail to see something no other white man has seen. They don't make it. Patton's mule is frightened by a rattlesnake. Bailey falls off his mule. Strahovski falls off her mule. Patton falls off his mule, breaks his arm and is "twice-bit by a snake." The mules run off. Patton gives up the ghost and the two lovers are left to walk their way out of the wilderness with no food, water, or supplies.Now, it's not like this plot of lost people trying to find their way back to civilization is anything new. Not if you've seen films like "Walkabout," "They Came to Cordura", or "An Eye For An Eye" -- all entertaining in their different ways. But I don't think any of the protagonists have been quite so willfully stupid as these two.I'm not counting the impossible elements like the wolves. I just mean that if any of us, with nothing more than ordinary in the upper story, were to find himself alone at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, he'd try to retrace his steps. No? If your guide went mad and died, you wouldn't forget to retrieve his knife and anything else useful from his pockets before burying the body, would you? (Would you waste time burying the body in the first place?) The writers have thrown in every cliché in the book. They've read the story of Aron Ralston, the hiker who in 2003 was pinned by an 800-pound boulder and had to amputate his own forearm with a pen knife to escape. Bailey has his foot trapped and Strahovski must cut it off. Here's how Bailey traps his foot. He falls a dozen feet or more down the face of a cliff and, at the bottom, has managed to land with his boot stuck irretrievably into a crack in the rock floor. You have to see it to believe it, and even then you won't believe it. The amputation, the deaths, are all pretty gruesome. I suppose they must be. The wince factor and the scenery are all that hold the movie together, and the photography of the magnificent landscape actually renders it dull and dark. When the writer runs out of ideas completely, he throws in a shouting match out of nowhere between the lovers, on the theory, I guess, that it's time for their argument.Strahovski is very easy on the eyes. We should have seen more of her. Her acting is professional enough, as is Bailey's. And I've always liked Will Patton, ever since he was my supporting player in the phenomenally poetic "Everybody Wins." He was an impressive villain in "No Way Out" too. Those staring eyes, that plastered-on grin, those hissing sibilants. I thought he might be the next Strother Martin. Instead, here he is playing one of those grizzled coots that became a cliché before sound was introduced.

redeemingtheuneven Let me be brutally honest: I watched this film for Yvonne Strahovski. That and I'm a sucker for a thriller/horror peppered with high stakes and survival. 'The Canyon' is one of those movies you go into expecting one thing, and... well, you more or less get it. That isn't to say it's terribly unoriginal or inept. In fact, I feel I'm downplaying how good it is in parts. There are those frustrating scenes that have you talking to the leads as if they were your own half-witted friends ('Why did you do that?', 'You idiot', etc.), but it has some powerful passages as well.Acting isn't a strong suit for, say, the first half of the film, but it does pick up a hell of a lot. Probably the biggest compliment I can pay is that though it may be generic in ways and feel all too much like just another 'oops!-these-people-are-lost' thriller, the way it arrives to its destination is quite different. At least in my eyes. And the final scene in particular "wowed" me. The closing moments pushed this up an extra rating.6/10

Perry Bee I am well aware that us viewers have different taste and likes when it comes to movies, but I think this movie has been put down where as I think it is worth watching. The story line is nothing really new, but the acting was solid, sure no Oscar coming their way, but the actors got the story line across well enough. The film is set in nice surroundings even if it was not shot in the Grand Canyon as some people have pointed out, it is still eye pleasing. If the producers would have had a bigger budget, bigger stars I think this would have been received better by the general public, but it still makes for good viewing for what it is.By far not the worst film I have seen, and it deserves a solid 7 out of 10

endura-1 Well I am positively surprised how good this movie actually was. Not sure why sometimes it's branded 'horror'because it's more like dramatic thriller. I liked the story and I liked the characters who were rich and believable. For the first time 'a chick' didn't annoy me:)and there was more to her than meets the eye. The story begins when a couple of newlyweds decides to take a trip to the Grand Canyon. Their guide is a rough, heavy drinking guy, who promises them an unforgettable experience. The trip however does not go as planned. I think this film is a solid piece. Don't expect more than 140min of adventure/survival flick and you won't be disappointed. It kept me focused and interested. Well worth seeing.