Best Damn Monster Movie from Amerika in Decades

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2008)

After like 30+ years of being a kaiju and giant monster movie fan and an adult now that watches about like a 100 films a year in the cinema as part of my life/job - I gotta say, this ones one of the damn best monster flicks amerika has ever produced. (with the exception of one, dumb, unnecessary, 5-minute scene - you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.)
With its inventive storytelling device *the entire film remains true to its hand-held camera first-person perspective!* (unfortunately tho' shot from the perspective of some white, financially privileged NYC kids as the protagonists, who are ridiculous/annoying unto themselves) and in doing so, its managed to revive the sense of thrill and the unknown in the genre and the overwhelming collapse of the order of expectation and delivery, while still being a totally effective genre-piece. I can't help but think that this is what "Creature from 20,000 Fathoms" or the original "Godzilla" must have been like seeing in the theatre when they came out last century.
I just witnessed it last night on the 3rd(?) largest screen/soundsystem on the west coast (yes the Cinerama!) and came out pretty well stunned. No work of high-art or whatever, but an amazing reinvention of a genre that has been pretty lame for decades. Props to Matt Reeves!