I really wanted to like this

Rating: 6/10 (2 February 2008)

I should preface this by saying that I watch on average about 1 movie a month at the theater, and it takes a LOT for a movie to disappoint me. With that in mind I will proceed.
I went into this with high hopes with "my main dude" who was equally excited. We had seen the trailers and expected to be thrilled. We walked to the movie theater and ended up having a hot chocolate nearby because after all, it is February. Well, we walked into the large theater and took some seats about 1/3 distance away from the screen, not a big deal because it was a very large room. Suffice it to say I was nauseous near the end of the party scene. The camera work was incredibly jerky, and throughout the film I had to cradle my head and close my eyes. I didn't understand it, I'd never experienced anything like this before. I knew that this movie used this type of filming, and it didn't phase me beforehand because I had seen the Blair Witch Project in the theater and I was fine. Through the whole film I kept saying to myself, why? Why do I feel like crap. Eventually I had to leave the theater to go to the restroom and put my head between my legs, it took ten minutes before I could return to the movie. I'm only 30, but I can honestly say while watching this film I felt it aged me a good 20 years.
Within a couple minutes of returning to the theater the dizzying effects began to take it's toll again. I tried to cradle my head and close my eyes to shield from the whirlwind camera work. It didn't work, the emergency lights that went on when they were rescuing the girl were penetrating my eyelids and the high-pitched noise of the alarm were earsplitting and adding to my discomfort rather than alleviating it by closing my eyes. Why did I stay in the theater do you ask? Well, for one I had never experienced something like this before (well maybe at an amusement park after eating loads of food as a child) while being stationary. I also paid a hefty price for the ticket, and I was determined to see this "ride" through. There were some interesting parts, don't get me wrong. This film had some amazing effects, and of course realistic acting. With all that aside, the plot stunk and the motivations of some of the characters were inane. Before seeing this film I did read some posts here and sneered when I read someone trying to discredit this film because I had my heart on seeing it. To be fair my judgment is largely based on the fact that this movie made me sick, plain and simple, and that's a new one on me. It was almost as if the filmmakers were going for a chaotic effect. Almost as if this film was nothing but crazy filming with screaming mobs of hysterical people and bright flashing lights and continuous loud effects, to be fair it IS a monster movie. It's hard to imagine how this film got such a high rating. Although, I can say this throughout the film, when I caught glimpses that didn't cause me to nearly vomit, I was telling myself that maybe this film is too intense for me, that's why people like it. Then I came to a conclusion, this movie was not intense, it was a joke. I was mistaking the hand held camera work for intense realistic drama. However, at the end of the film no answers were given, nothing was learned, and I paid over ten dollars to get sick watching a movie that wasn't even a hour and a half long. In conclusion, I want to warn anyone who got sick watching the Blair Witch Project, you WILL get sick watching this. Even if you have a strong stomach, like I thought I did, do NOT have a huge cup of hot chocolate beforehand as I did, or food in general. Also, sit as far from the screen as possible! On the other hand, maybe I'm just a wimp, and I'm starting to get old, and no one else will be effected as I was, but my "main dude" got just as sick as I did, but that could be the hot chocolate talking. Yes I was disappointed, not in the actors (they did a good job), not the effects (they were spot on), but in the plot and the maniacal camera man, a.k.a. Hud. Most of all, I was disappointed in myself for falling for the hype that this film promised, and more so for allowing myself to get sick.