I really wanted to like this film

Rating: 1/10 (27 April 2008)

Seeing how many trailers ran for this before it's release I was already worried this film was going to be truly awful. Anything getting hyped that much normally is awful. The film is all shot on hand-held cameras which is an incredibly bad idea. If Blair Witch taught us anything, it was hand-held cameras in a movie look abysmal! And this movie is no different.
It's incredibly slow to get started, with no action until your 20 minutes into the film & that's where they jump the shark. If your in a building & just experienced an earthquake then on a roof to see an explosion & running downstairs from falling fireballs the VERY last thing your going to do is carry on filming at eye-level from a hand-held camera. Your either going to drop it or lower it down to waist height to allow yourself to run faster.
And thats the kind of basic rookie mistake that ruins films. The bad hand-held camera work was already doing that anyway but a stupid goof like that killed the film before it ever got started. The people photographing the head of The Statue Of Liberty are just WAY too calm. There would be absolute hysteria, people would be going mental! As far all the destroyed buildings & falling rubble? In a post 9/11 climate is a movie with these images really a good idea or just incredibly stupid. The latter I feel.
Rob getting a call from Beth on his cell phone? Highly unlikely after that kind of city devastation, lines would be restricted to emergency calls only. The scene on The Brooklyn Bridge is not believable at all. No-one seems frightened. Even when the bridge collapses the camera guy turns around to film whats happening. No-one would do that, you'd be too busy running away or getting trampled in the panic.
When we finally do see bits of the monster it's an incredibly cheap looking effect. Even 1970's Dr Who would have been embarrassed about that thing. It looked like it cost all of $10, if that. A very cheap rubbery monster. A cheap Godzilla rip-off.
Rob's motivation for rescuing Beth is zero. They had a huge argument at the party and he was upset when she left. His mood towards her suddenly changing is incredibly suspect & a very POOR plot device. The soldiers they encountered, not 1 said get down (before they started firing), not 1 said turn back. It just wouldn't happen. The plausibility of the movie just gets less & less by the scene.
You also have to question Hud not knocking Rob out by the time their in the subway. Even truly good friends would have punched his lights out by then. As for "walking the tunnels"? If there's a light on the camera, why isn't Hud walking at the front so everyone behind him can see? As far as them being attacked by those creatures? The movie should have ended right there because they were outnumbered & should have all been killed.
The way they just suddenly meet the soldiers is far too simple. Marlena dies (even though you never see anything, she's bleeding from her eyes then is taken behind a curtain where you see an explosion of blood so its safe to assume she's VERY dead).
With Rob saying to the soldier "If you want to stop me you'll have to shoot me", the soldier should have pulled out his gun and done us ALL a favour. Even after seeing Beth's building half knocked down Rob STILL thinks she's alive? I'm sorry but 1 of the 2 remaining friends would have actually knocked him out cold at that point.
After pulling Beth off the spike, why wasn't she bleeding like crazy? Also the awful & incredibly predictable scare when the monster hits the helicopter? And they survive the crash? I think at this point in the movie they had run out of ideas & were just doing anything to kill time.
Hud gets an excellent death (bitten in half by the monster) & then you get Rob & Beth talking to the camera, an explosion, rubble falling, Coney Island then nothing. No ending, no resolution? And to those who think they saw a splash in the sea at the end? It's a ship sailing from left to right, certainly nothing splashing into the sea like so many claims I've read.
What an awful film. From start to lack of finish, utter garbage! Not recommended to anyone, ever.