Super intense creature feature

Rating: 8/10 (6 December 2018)

A group of young folks find themselves in considerable jeopardy after a vicious giant monster suddenly attacks New York City.
Director Matt Reeves, working from a tight script by Drew Goddard, takes time to develop the characters, grounds the fantastic premise in a believable everyday reality, and generates plenty of nerve-wracking tension. The total absence of a music score and the expert use of a shaky hand-held portable camera give this picture a bracing, riveting, and above all extremely harrowing sense of immediacy and intimacy that basically puts the viewer in the thick of the terrifying action just like the hapless people in the movie; the acute feeling of blind panic and complete chaos is frighteningly well captured. Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, and Odette Annable are all credible as the imperiled protagonists. The scenes of destruction -- the Statue of Liberty's decapitated head rolls down a street, the Brooklyn Bridge gets demolished -- are quite potent and startling. The grim ending also packs a shocking punch. The special effects are convincingly done. An on the money nail biter.