Pretty good, all things considered.

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2008)

Alright, so I've read a lot of reviews on here giving this a 1 or 2 star rating because it's not a deep, thought-provoking film wrought with wit, symbolism, or metaphors. Make no mistake, reviewers, this is not an art film; this is an unconventional action movie filmed from the perspective of a group of survivors in the case of a giant monster attacking NYC.
I see complaints that the characters make poor decisions, which I agree with. The truth, though, is that you don't know what you'd do in a situation like that, where your body is getting ravaged by inordinate amounts of adrenaline because the situation you're in is getting more and more horrible by the second. I applauded them because they had the strength to carry on, to be honest.
And to the complaint of "the camera is too shaky", THAT'S WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF ONE GUY WERE FILMING THIS MOVIE FROM A HAND-HELD CAMCORDER. I was honestly more annoyed about the few really steady, spectacular shots in the film because it would have been so hard for someone to pull them off with a camcorder and no tripod.
(And here's the reason I clicked the spoiler box) My biggest problem with the movie, however, was the way Hud's death was handled. The guy froze, sure, I can believe that, but the monster didn't even try to go after Beth or Rob. It did, however, lead to (in my opinion) the best moment of the whole film though: the auto-focus that can't seem to choose whether to focus on Hud's face or the blades of grass. That shot threw shivers down my spine. For real.
All in all, I loved this movie for what it was, and I can't wait for the inevitable sequel(s).