MovieChat Forums > Sanctum (2011) Discussion > Iaon Grufford's acting was atrocious

Iaon Grufford's acting was atrocious

posted 11 years ago by farfolomew
9 replies | jump to latest

I actually enjoyed the movie, I thought it had some pretty intense scenes, in particular the first death scene. I thought it captured both characters' frantic instinct to save themselves by letting the other person drown.

But I thought Ioan Grufford's acting was just bad. Not at all what he's capable of. I'd put his acting near the bottom of the cast, behind the actors who played Victoria and Josh. There's no excuse for that considering he's the star actor in the movie.

He's obviously a great actor, look at Amazing Grace and King Arthur. He even did ok in Fantastic Four. In this, he was just awful though. I gotta blame the Director on this one. We've seen bad directors make decent actors look terrible before (George Lucas in Phantom Menace) and this seemed like no exception.

[–] gabypanama 11 years ago

So, george lucas is a bad director? Have you seen star wars?

[–] huwdj 8 years ago

IMHO George Lucas is, at least sometimes, a crap director. Great producer and his films have many iconic scenes but the stuff in between is often wooden and clunky.

[–] Ace_Spade (9348) 4 years ago

THX-1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars were all slam-dunks. Then he directed the prequels... So, he's got three brilliant pieces of timeless art and three jaw-dropping sinkholes.

At best, let's say he's an "inconsistent" director, but he's never been known as an actor's director. Apparently his crew got him two signs, "Faster" and "More intense", as a joke gift; they were the only two bits of direction he ever really gave.

Let's also consider that Lucas clearly atrophied at some point. He's got a HUGE gap between Star Wars and The Phantom Menace. I'll guess that somewhere in those twenty-two years, his directing skills sank down. He got into producing, kept his hand in writing a bit with some "story" credits, but mainly he seemed to focus on effects and technical things, creating Skywalker Sound and THX. He's a special effects guy. It's why everything in Star Wars looks cool and sounds cool: he knows what he's after with the look and the sound. But directing? He ain't all that.

[–] samborrie 10 years ago

It was like someone had bet him, that he couldn't do every accent in one film! Why did he need to do any accent? Very off putting.

[–] stephtastrophe 10 years ago

I thought he was the best one in it even with the accent lol.

real human being and a real hero

[–] DurakSuka 9 years ago

Spot on.

Hama cheez ba-Beer behtar meshawad!

[–] spookyrat1 8 years ago

I think his acting was OK. It was just a little strange having a Welsh actor play an American character. I don't know why he didn't just use his normal accent, or the producers cast an American actor.🐭

[–] sarahliz1624 9 years ago

He was just fine until they find him again at the end. That was where things went sideways, but I blame the script and directing, not the actor. They do little pieces that all get put together in the editing room, and I'm guessing on set it didn't look like he was doing it "big" enough, but then once it showed up in the editing room it looked too much like he was hamming it up. I don't think it was his fault. I have a feeling it was just the situation. Like you said, he's consistently good. If he were known for uneven performances I would be unlikely to look elsewhere for a cause, but he really isn't. He's a RADA trained professional. I think this was a case of the script not translating to the screen. I've heard it said that a great script can make a crappy movie but a crappy script never makes a great movie, and I have a feeling this script read really well and just didn't translate.

[–] huwdj 8 years ago

Yes but to be fair I think several of the performances were over cooked and that probably is down to direction given.