Uninspired, unoriginal, and for gods sake turn on the damn stability control!

Rating: 1/10 (20 January 2008)

There were two interesting things about seeing this movie, unfortunately neither of them were things directly in the movie itself. To speak bluntly this movie was terrible. Honestly I wouldn't even call it a movie, that would imply the existence of a plot line. The movie was what it pretended to be, raw footage. The acting was lacking at best, the only way I would give them more credit is if the dialog was improvised on the spot, which it *might* have been. The cinematography would have been original had this movie been released in 1998 or anytime before the Blair Witch Project. I nearly walked out ten minutes into the movie once I realized the entire film was shot from a shaky hand held camera.
But even the worst visual movies can have a deeper meaning, right? So what about this one?
There are obvious 9/11 references/similarities, for instance, it was an attack on NYC. The imagery of terrified people running through the streets from the dust clouds of a collapsed building would conjure thoughts of 9/11 in even the most dim witted person. But as much as you pick this one apart there wasn't any purpose beyond using it as an implement to regurgitate fear. No, this movie isn't some sort of pompous social commentary on the American dream/lifestyle/people/whatever. It's actually quite empty as far as metaphor/meaning goes. But honestly, it's not like people would expect that from a monster movie anyway, right?
Although it was the connection this movie shared with 9/11 that brings me to my first interesting point. Almost every time a tragedy of this proportion occurs there are countless stories (books, movies or any other medium) that reference it (however vaguely) for decades to come. For example, look at post-Nagasaki/Hiroshima Japan. I'd be curious to see the list of movies that depict the mass destruction of Tokyo via atomic or nuclear bomb. Not to mention the other Japanese movies that center around the general ruining of cities... mostly by a few specific gigantic monsters... which will remain unnamed.
The second interesting thing happened to be something which I've never witnessed in a movie theater before. It made it worth paying the ten dollars for a ticket, wasting an hour and half of my life and enduring a headache the camera work gave me. As the ending credits started and the lights slowly came back on the audience unanimously started trash-talking the movie. There was booing from all corners of the theater, someone seated behind me said harshly "this movie sucked!", and the girl who was with him asked him, "what did you drag me to??" Their reactions were fairly amusing, and undoubtedly the best part of the whole movie experience.
All in all there were a couple of really cool visuals in the movie... Unfortunately this alone isn't worth the price of the movie, not even the price of the DVD, not even the price of the DVD once it goes into the "shitty $3.99 movie bin" at best buy. Either stay clear of this one or if your curiosity gets the best of you find a pirated version for free.
::SPOILER:: Oh, and before I forget. For all the reported "realism" in this movie I'd like someone to explain to me exactly how a plastic video tape survives the tens of millions of degrees caused by the blast of a nuclear bomb......
But now I'm just being nit picky.