Another cheaply-made straight-to-video thriller, this time one with too much talk and too little action. The interesting plot sees Dacascos as a former assassin who abandons his violent ways (predictably, not for long though) to become a priest, only for his past to catch up with him. What SANCTUARY has in its favour are a number of well-executed action scenes (like the chase through the town, the assassination of a diplomat, the ending) which make the best of their low budget and become moderately exciting in places.
Unfortunately, these plus points are countered by a cheap, generic script; non-threatening (but irritating) bad guys and a dark and gloomy look which sucks the life from this film and makes it hard to enjoy it. Mark Dacascos is charismatic as an actor but his range is limiting; Kylie Travis is pretty good as a tough companion but given a weak character. Alan Scarfe is distinctly forgettable as the main villain. They make loads of films like this on the cheap these days, and frankly most of them blur into one another. It takes something special (like Dacascos' DRIVE) to make a film like this stand out from the run-of-the-mill crowd, and sadly SANCTUARY doesn't have that.
Unfortunately, these plus points are countered by a cheap, generic script; non-threatening (but irritating) bad guys and a dark and gloomy look which sucks the life from this film and makes it hard to enjoy it. Mark Dacascos is charismatic as an actor but his range is limiting; Kylie Travis is pretty good as a tough companion but given a weak character. Alan Scarfe is distinctly forgettable as the main villain. They make loads of films like this on the cheap these days, and frankly most of them blur into one another. It takes something special (like Dacascos' DRIVE) to make a film like this stand out from the run-of-the-mill crowd, and sadly SANCTUARY doesn't have that.