I'm not sure why this film is rated so low. It is not a Hollywood blockbuster, not a Citizen Kane, you can tell its low budget. Regardless, the acting is pretty good, the directing and cinematography are good. It IS difficult to tell a story when we all know the outcome, so it feels a little long at times, but it is otherwise watchable.

The film was made with the utmost respect for John Jones. Aside from the scenes of him in the cave, there are many flashback and dream sequences that make John Jones a real person, not just the "guy who got stuck in the cave."

I will say that I do NOT recommend this film to anyone who suffers from claustrophobia or anxiety. I do not think you will enjoy it, as it will only exacerbate those issues.

It's actually not that bad. As it is, I'm addicted to these survival type movie/shows, like I Shouldn't Be Alive for instance (which they don't make anymore, but it's my favorite). As far as I know I've seen every one of these type of shows in existence. I was expecting a made for TV style production value, but this actually has one of the best production values out of any of these shows and the acting is good. It feels like an authentic movie.

The movie took a chance and went for it, trying to add a more in depth creative element to it and I think it ends up taking away from the movie, as opposed to focusing more on the rescue efforts going on. And I mean by creative element, John regularly zone's out into this dream world. Each time there's this person in the background giving him the stinkeye and we're like, who the hell is this jackhole? We later find out that it's his unborn son, meanwhile he must hate his other kid because he barely gets an honorable mention. Anyways, I couldn't help but think of Happy Gilmore when Adam Sandler regularly zone's out and each time there's the dwarf on the tricycle, which is just super random. At least the dwarf puts us in a happy place, the dude/s who they show (his unborn kid at varying ages) give off a Michael Myers vibe. Shouldn't his son chillin in the background be radiating a warm/positive energy? Is his son angry that he has to grow up without a father and he has a bunch of built up resentment? It's a wonder he didn't beg the rescue workers for coffee and amphetamines to prevent this evil bastard from trying to get him in the dream world.... it's like a bad acid trip.

I had seen a documentary before this in ref to this incident, but it's difficult to conceptualize and the movie doesn't make it any clearer. Perhaps there ins't a way without actually seeing it for yourself. I'm sure rescue workers did everything in their power to free the dude and if there was a way they would have probably figured it out, but in 28 hours or whatever it was it would seem as though one could chisel their way out of Alcatraz. Why didn't they chip around him? Why didn't they douse him in peanut oil like they mentioned at one point? They obviously know what they're doing, I just can't conceptualize it. Another thing that annoyed me which I'm sure they did, I just don't understand why they didn't demonstrate it once during the movie. We/I'm going to pull you, take as deep of a breath in as possible just before I/we pull.

Anyways, it's not that bad of a movie. I liked the discount Ryan Reynolds character who was the main rescue dude. Actually all of the characters were really good... the acting is good. It still had my sucking back tears.

I saw this story as a clip on a tv show and did a wee bit of research online to find out the story of what happened. This film is heart wrenching and if you aren't claustrophobic before then that may change by the end of the film. I don't want to spoil the film for those who haven't seen it but it is worth watching.