Too little monster, too much inside and underground, but not too bad !

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2008)

I just saw the movie and here is my review.......
The movie dragged a bit at first with boring party logistics as the appointed amateur cameraman (Duh you mean you want me to go around the party and document everything on video...well uh.. duh OK.. maybe I'll try some to see how it goes) scoped people who had nothing much to say.
Credits go to the special effects people both audio and visual who really knew how to make things happen. The actors were good because they gave you the impression that they were real people and acted exactly that way. I am down on the screenplay because this could have been a much better movie if it had a decent screenplay. The movie duration of 1hr 40mins could have been cut to 70 or 80 minutes and then built back up to 2hrs with more monster effects, more havoc and more of those little buggers raising hell ! Throw in some retreats similar to the latest War Of The Worlds and you would have something. I got a bargain price of 5 bucks seeing it on Tuesday so I cant complain to much.
When the news flashed an earthquake announcement we could (in hindsight) perceive this two ways.
1. The earthqauke was mistaken for the bad SOB from (we still don't know where it came from) hell stomping mud holes in everythings ass all over the place.
2. The earthquake actually happened and released the bad SOB from a crack below the ocean. This is perhaps a topic for further discussion since we saw giill like sacks in the rear sides of the SOB's head later on. (How did it breathe, like a fish or like a humanoid etc.) As the movie progresses we see small (size of a medium dog) spider like creatures that attack living things on sight and have an infectious bite which will getcha later (as your eyes reap blood and you finally explode).
We feel for the characters as we lose some of them due to the fact that the movie lets us get sort of close to them. None of the characters are allowed too much personality apparently since it is all about the bad ass SOB doing more then stealing your lunch money amidst downtown manhattan.
The movie has some edge of your seat moments and the ever present loud thuds make sure of that. Someone had posted a picture of what they thought the monster looked like on this thread but I can say without a doubt that it was not the bulky thick necked chubby thighed illustration that was posted. The monster has arm like appenditures and I can only compare it to a much smaller monster which was in episode 5 or 6 (try 6) of the series PRIMEVAL (British I believe), PRIMEVAL by the way is a great series in it's second season. (Google "PRIMEVAL Torrent" or "PRIMEVAL Rapidshare links" you will get some blogs that have the links. There are 6 episodes in season one, and two in season two so far. Different monsters and creatures in each episode make this series a winner along with great special effects.
Anyway after watching the entire movie I thought our two remaining heroes were goners ! Then I see camera segment dated 24 Apr 2007 with the two of them on a roller coaster at an amusement park. One hero (Rob) says to his girl something like "So how was your day so far" and they smile at each other. I am trying to figure out if the camera segment was after the monster holocuast or before. If it is after they really left a lot of unanswered questions leading me to believe that we will be teased again with a sequel.
I could see some camera perspective adding value to this movie but they used it throughout the entire movie and it turned many people off. Even people who don't get dizzy or motion sick seemed irritated by it. If there is a sequel I sure hope they don't use this method again unless it is in limited doses.