Financially deprived director!

Rating: 4/10 (20 January 2008)

I was so excited about seeing this movie. I thought "this is going to be a great movie". Why? Because the previews hadn't revealed any vital plot or character details! It appeared to contain elements of the destruction of part of New York by some sort of monster or god knows what, from who knows where and who knows why! The potential therefore to be completely surprised and exhilarated, mind and body!
The movie starts with a guy holding a camera and as it progresses I think, "I hope this hand holding camera portion eventually ends, it's dizzying and making me want to look away". But I didn't look away and the movie continues to its conclusion, the dizzying, jumping and rather annoying hand held camera action continuing to its very end, which was a great disappointment! You could sense this dissatisfaction as people were leaving the theater, by their comments and quick exit. No need to stick around and relish on the remnants of how this movie has left anyone feeling. Unless of course you'd like to stick around and deal with your astonishment and regret!
So this movie remained in the realm of "potential" as it could have been one of the best all time's alien monster movie. But it fell way short of that with the director opting to present the plot and its characters in the eyes of an amateur hand held camera (not even its owner) user. Maybe the director wanted to copy the method used to film the Blair Witch Project. Or maybe he couldn't afford an experienced camera crew (I say this sarcastically).
So no exhilaration or surprise, except to be surprised when I read some of the reviews! Some saying "it felt like I was there just like when I watched footage of 911". Phooey! It was nothing like watching news or amateur hand held footage. Any hand held footage would have been screened for the best footage and you would not have been subjected to it for 2 hours.
My hope! The director will have some sort of an epiphany and will want to create a sequel at which time he will have collected enough cash to hire an elaborate and otherwise experienced camera crew.