It must be my fault that I hated this movie

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2008)

First off, this movie has to be the most talked about and controversial movie of all time judging by the astronomical amount of buzz and comments it generated before and after its release. So far, most of them have been positive but nevertheless, it is undeniably one of those movies that you either hate or love.
Originally, I plan to give it a zero. But after some soul searching, I thought a 5 would be more appropriate if I put aside my personal grudge and disappointment due to false hope and misguided expectation.
It is unquestionably a brainchild of digital age. This movie would not be the least bit relevant and effective if we are not in the prime age of camera phone, youtube and digicam. In the time of prime media being flooded with low quality captures of real life events, this movie had hit home and heart of many audiences, as it was cleverly packaged, devised, staged and deployed to make you believe. Without the sense of realism, this movie is reduced to nothing but failed, pretentious, crude and vomit inducing piece of eyesore. The biggest problem that I have is that: IT DIDN'T MAKE ME BELIEVE! Hence my title of this review: it must be my fault that I hated this movie.
My fault number 1: I didn't know that it's going to be shot entirely on handy cam. (I guess I just wasn't that much on the vibe of current events) It thus to my shock, amazement and disbelieve that 40 minutes into the movie, the guy is still holding the damn camera though common sense would tell us that any sane and normal human being would have ditched the camera by now.
This factor alone had cracked a big hole for me in the credibility and authenticity of this movie.
My fault number 2: I'm just too critical and analytical for my own good, thus deprived me the joy of being immersed into the experience. There are time and time again that it seems extremely inappropriate for them to keep recording when they actually need to run for their life. A guy who had never dealt much with camera in his entire life all of a sudden just turned into this obsessive camera nut who insist on filming in the most inopportune moment of his life when he supposed to cover his friends and his own ass. This just takes away more credibility and simply became a distraction.
My fault number 3: I actually noticed all the ploy, tricks and gimmicks of tension building 5 minutes into the movie. Many here have asked the purpose of first 20 minutes of mind numbing footage of some guys and some girls and some farewell party. I actually noticed that it's there to make it real for you and prepare your mind for a shock. The problem is that there's no shock for me as I know it's a trick to lay the tone for it to be some mundane home movie and then all of a sudden just hit you with a monster. Well duh, the movie poster and trailer show liberty statue's head got ripped off, so I was expecting a monster and I knew the director was priming me for a shock. Only that it didn't shock me. Instead, I kept asking: when are you going to cut the chase and show us the damn monster already? You spent 20 minutes trying to tell me that it's just a normal day for normal people. I got it already!!!
My fault number 4: I'm just not that romantic. The story centers around a guy for some reason, during a life threatening apocalyptic event, all of sudden became desperately romantic and heroic and dead bent on saving a girl (who already had a boyfriend) he had one night stand with. It sort of makes sense since it may be his last chance because he's going to Japan. Also it might add to the effect that they are all about to die any minute. Riiiiight Am I the only who see the glaring gaping hole in logic here? Just for the convenience of recording the whole event for our viewing enjoyment, his friends decided to tag along, one of them is a girl who had only met him 3 times in her whole life and was apparently drunk every time. Another one is our camera man who apparently wasn't that tight with him but somehow determined to risk his life and follow him and managed to record the whole event. THEY HARDLY SEEM TO BE HIS FRIEND IF YOU ASK ME! But I'm just thinking too much.
My fault number 5: I thought movies, like music, are supposed to be appealing to our sensory organs. I guess I'm wrong. This movie is as visually appealing as having someone grab your feet and lift you upside down and start violently shaking you for pocket changes  FOR ALMOST 2 HOURS! There are times that I literally hope the fat guy behind the camera just die so all of this visual abuse would stop. Defies all logic, he survived many odds while managing to keep the camera rolling. In the end, the biggest tragedy is not death, but headache. At least that's the case for me.
My fault number 6: I miserably failed to make the connection between this movie and 9/11. I never sense the urgency of national defense crisis that got some of the viewers here so worked up. All I got out of this movie is an ill attempt to present a far fetched concept in a realistic package.
If it not for me being a stubborn, cynical, judgmental and overly analyzing SOB, I would have thoroughly enjoyed this movie.
Instead, I felt like this is an overly elaborated youtube hoax.