Had a pretty good time with this!

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2011)

When this movie came out, I knew it was a disaster movie but I had no idea what the disaster was - then my friends told me it is some monster. I thought, OK that sounds original.
While you could compare it to something such as godzilla or other monster films, this is quite an intriguing film because the first twenty minutes or so everything seems so normal that you get drawn more into the narrative and then you get the unexpected shaking with an earthquake and a whole lot of other events that are never explained to us the reason for its cause, so the characters are just as confused as us.
This is taken with the effect of the shaky cam corder capturing the events, much like the Blair Witch Project and it is highly effective in this case. It has the effect of not being too predictable, you don't know what is going to happen and the atmosphere feels fearful due to this.
To explain the plot in the beginning is kind of irrelevant as it is simply just a celebration for a farewell party for a guy who is going to work in Japan. After that, you almost forget the beginning scenes once all the mayhem comes in.
As for the monster, the good thing is that they only show bits of it now and then and it isn't until later that you see the full image of it. This is one of those movies where you work things out for yourself and nothing is really explained properly but this is an added bonus to the cam corder approach to film as it feels more authentic as though this could have been something that happened to you, and you simply documented it and have no idea what the hell is going on around you.
I guess you can say this has been done before with the cam corder technique, and the characters are simply one dimensional, but this is a survival story so it really isn't necessary.
I had a great time with this though it does make me think of something: if you were in these terrible situations, wouldn't you just be inclined to run and let go of your cam corder? I would be more concerned for my personal safety rather than trying to record everything. But I guess you would want to show someone one day what you went through, so I guess it makes sense.