The Monster Movie: this time it's personal.

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2008)

Spielberg got us partway there with War of the Worlds (a huge missed opportunity to outdo the original). These guys -- Abrams and Reeves -- get us all the way there. 'There' is what it might feel like to be in the way of something big and angry and strange in New York city.
I rate this movie a 9 because it is nothing if not effective. The unknown actors are credible, the atmosphere is credible, and the scares are credible. All three are hard to sustain, especially considering the premise of this movie.
The way we all are blindsided and bewildered by events that jar us -- the way we lack the 'God's eye' perspective usually offered in such films; the way life-altering events seem to come out of nowhere... all are captured in a uniquely powerful way here.
Someone called this the first monster movie for the MySpace generation, and I can't argue with that. But I'm way beyond that generation, and I thought this was a breakthrough. Don't wait for rental, see it on the big screen.