I took a few days after my initial viewing of this flick before I wrote this review. It just took me some to fully process my feelings on it. Every critic on planet terra here, is using the terms "Godzilla meets Blair witch project" to describe this movie, and damn it, though I tried to bring you fun word flip terms, I am unable to find a better way to explain this film.
So this is 100% hand held camera movie, now whether or not that is the same kind of hand held camera you can pick up at your local 'future shop' store (ha ha, endorsements bitches, no, wait, no ones paying me for shit... dammit) is up for some debate. So expect the following, no music, no clever panning shots, shaking camera aimed at ground running, sweaty scared talking to camera parts... etc. If you puked, or got dizzy, during the Blair Witch Project, pop some pills, or wait for video, because this is way worse.
I loved this movie, it has been a while since we've had a big screen, North American monster flick, and if you say Godzilla was the last one, then we've been waiting a while for a good one (sorry but Ferris freakin' Buller vs. Godzilla... eat me Hollywood casting agent). The films writing is awesome, picks up with a simple type guy filming his best friends going away party, evening goes on, some candid moments are caught on film to set up character relationships, then the whole place is hit by what appears to be an earth quake. They hit the roof to investigate, chaos ensues, buildings around them exploding. After this the film is basically the city of new york under attack by a giant monster, and our group of no names, working their way across the city to find an injured friend.
They made this film for 25 million, apparently, how I'm not entirely sure. The scenes where you see the creature, usually passing by, or at war with army troops, are awesome, I mean they look fantastic. The way they use the camera to set up thrills, and emotional scenes is never annoying, or seemingly out of place. Much like Blair Witch, the camera seems to move as one would imagine it would, if running through a war, with a huge ass pissed Monster. The characters are very real, most, though attractive, not so much to have you going, "Tuck in the libido, and run". The comedy when it happens, is a welcome release from the terror moments. All the acting was good, and having no names really helped draw you in. Since you couldn't just point and be like, hey Lindsay Lohan, yoos a gonna die.
A great achievement. There are gonna be all kinds of people bitching about how you never really find out what the creature is, and such things. Its shot from one nobodies perspective. You see what he sees, and he sees no explanation on where the creature came from, and doesn't need one to know to run. Therefore you do not need one to watch them run. When the film is done, the movies done. And when it was, I was popcorned and satisfied.
You'll jump, laugh, perhaps have mild nausea, and enjoy the couple of hours you invest.
I hope we see a few more monster flicks hitting the screen. Considering this film already doubled its production budget, I'd bet on it.
movie scale 3.5 out of five stars
monster movie scale 4.5 out of five stars
Awesome stuff, looking for something off the beaten path to satisfy your monster needs while you wait for this to hit dvd, check out "The host" a now available Asian import. Its a hella fun too.
-peace dips
Chuck
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