Really Great and Scary Entertainment

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2008)

Not Alien but it is a very scary movie, very well done. It's surprising to me that so many reviewers panned it. If you really can't stand the Blair Witchy hand held camera stuff, perhaps this isn't your movie.
The first 20 minutes are slow and marginally entertaining at best, but they lay the groundwork for the nonstop action for the rest of the film. There are several simply spectacular events and a handful of very spooky ones. The characters are not necessarily ones you like as individuals, but they are well acted and seem very real. By the end of the movie I thought they had all showed some unexpected sterling qualities. The only thing that annoyed me slightly was the lead female running around in heels or at times barefoot with broken glass everywhere -- I think she would have swapped them for something more functional. But that's a minor point.
The dialog was not a high point of the movie, but it added some significant depth to the main characters. What some are complaining about as bad lines are pretty much what you would expect from a guy like "Hud" in my opinion. In fact it was nice to see ordinary people facing an extraordinary situation without superheroics.
Both monster types were genuinely scary, and I am rarely scared even though I want to be. Marletta's wound was especially well done, as were the final scenes of her agony.
It was also great to see a movie in which the military was portrayed as the military, with no evil plotting general or totally incompetent or uncaring individuals. And while there is an overlay of a defense project gone amiss, this is not a movie in which we are lectured by the antimilitary crowd -- a major improvement.
If you liked the movie (I saw it on DVD), check out the special features, especially the documentary on the CGI work. Very well done.
In summary, unless you strongly dislike hand held cams, this is great entertainment. Highly recommended.