Getting 2008 off to a pretty darn good start. Many spoilers in this "review."
Plus:
- Here is the plus that takes prescendence over the other pluses, and above all my tiny little minuses; it was an excellently made movie. The opening scenes - at a freakin' party! - were absolutely terrifying because you had no idea what was going to happen, and when whatever happened would happen. All the scenes during the attack were terrifying. The scene in the subways? AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
- You really cared about the characters, even though they were morons (see below)
- The monster had a great design (as did its little parasite things) and I'm glad they didn't give you all this "it just wantz 2b lovd!!!!!" background in the movie. It just showed up and nobody had a clue about anything, which made the movie even more terrifying. I love how you don't know exactly what was going on with anything, like the attack, or Marlena's bite (my friends and I discussed that on the ride home for like half an hour). That said, the viral marketing is brilliant if you're willing to do the effort (or read the efforts that other people have put in ;) )
- The script and acting were way, way, way above average for this type of movie (especially considering the actors were mostly unknowns). I seriously doubt any of them will be in my final lineups by the end of 2008, but I'll be proud to call them finalists/semi-finalists/whatever.
Minus:
- OH CHRIST THE CHARACTERS WERE STUPID. Beth was...arrrghhh!! Yes, I understand why love drove Rob back to get her, but... arghhh!!! The second Rob was like "hey, we can go through the subway tunnels!" I was like "NO. YOU ARE A MORON. DO NOT DO THAT." Also, Hud's death was caused by his own being a moron. OMG let me go back for my camera...ahhhh the monster ate me I'm dead. Also, HUD! SAVE YOUR ASS AND STOP FILMING ("people will want to know how it all went down" was the only stupid line in the whole movie)!
- Okay. I'd heard to bring Dramamine, seriously. And the shakycam didn't bother me so much. You know what did make me feel queasy to the point of uncomfortable? The constant 9/11 imagery. I'm from very close to the city. I remember the day vividly. Yes, I know, it's a movie about New York being attacked. There will be some things that remind the viewer of 9/11 even if the filmmakers were trying their hardest to not have those images in the movie. But...there were scenes that were right off the news from that day. Tough to watch, and hard to believe it was unintentional.
- NOOOOO, JANIS IAN!!!!! (Her "HUD!!" right before they dragged her behind that curtain, though? Terrifying. She was awesome.)
- A few instances of product placement were really very funny. For example, when Rob called his mom and had to tell him his brother had died, and then sat on the bench in the subway and Lily had to comfort him, the zooming camera focused on the Nokia ad, and not Rob and Lily.
- While the monster was always cool-looking, the design and height of it seemed to change... like, we saw its face when they were on the helicopter/about to get on the helicopter? and it looked just like a Rancor from Star Wars (dork reference). Then, when we saw its face when Hud got eaten, it...didn't look like that. I don't think "there were two monsters omg!!!" like some were saying, but it was inconsistent.
- Also, the monster being indestructable was a little ridiculous, but I understand why they had to do it for the sake of the movie.
- Also also, did the monster have like, a cloaking feature or something? Because, like, when they were trying to evacuate people via the Brooklyn Bridge, the government didn't notice it was nearby? When Hud went back to get his camera, he didn't notice it was, uh, STANDING RIGHT OVER IT????
- There were some stupid people in my theater that were really loud.
Overall, though? Great experience, and a very good movie, especially considering it comes out in January, the Month Of Crap That Isn't Going To Make Any Money. The 9/11 references mean I can't ever love it, though, unfortunately... B (maybe, maybe, maybe a B+?)
