Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: SINKHOLE [Locarno Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]

The aspect of would-be disaster films mixed in with a genre element and snippets of heavy drama and situation comedy are an intriguing combination to try to do together. But the result can hardly be balanced and they don't often work. "Sinkhole" is a decently budgeted South Korean film which involves a building that is consumed in a sinkhole and the adventures needed to get out. It is not done on a realistic level as much since the scale is both on and way off. There are parallels to "The Poseidon Adventure" as well as its bigger and bloated remake in that it tries to find the balance. The issue resides in the two male leads but also the strength. Like those earlier disaster films, "Sinkhole" paints how different these characters are but how that changes through crisis as does their humor. However in doing the set up, again like "Poseidon", it is overwrought and overplays the differences making it almost satiric and borderline laughable.

This changes, of course, because as the situations become heightened, the acting style pulls back actually and it begins to work well, midway through the 2nd act of the film. The sets with the exception of the sides of the hole and the actually "falling" if you will, are pretty practical across the board which is a nice throwback. Different interacting relationships across the board also work well though some seem more forced than others. Some sequences are a little shoddy but others are pretty focused like the climbing of up the side of a building underground or the shifting of a rooftop.

The comedy is there when it wants to comes through but it is more used as a drum tap instead of a consistent organic piece of the story. There are scenes that deal with sacrifice and honor in a way and sometimes they hint to a mythical [not any real supernatural element - though one image does play to that]. The ending aspect is effective (though in a way pulled from another overwrought (yet still entertaining) action film called "The Core"). The reasoning for a certain element in the climax to make the story work comes into play but it does not make logical sense. Another elements of disaster that lurks above them is also conveniently forgotten though it likely took a lot of money to set it up. "Sinkhole" is many things and does a lot of them well but comes off more often than not unbalanced in its tone while still being entertaining. B-

By Tim Wassberg