Solid Monster Movie

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2008)

I waited until several months after the release of the DVD to see the film mainly because I wanted every last bit of the hype/complaints to wash off so I could see this movie unhindered. And here's what I saw: The movie starts off slow and fairly boring, main characters are introduced and its basically a home movie documenting Rob's going away party. The movie takes a turn for the awesome when the attack begins, at first as an Earthquake and then the monster begins blowing stuff up... The main issue I have is that too much of the monster is revealed too early in the film, for a movie able to keep the monster fairly under-wraps before its release it sure does give stuff away quickly...
The monster's originality, however, makes up for it, it doesn't resemble any monster I've seen, it looks like a mix between a bat, spider, and a squid to my eyes, especially since (and this is also very cool) it drops smaller creatures off its back like a mother spider... The smaller creatures, at least to me, seemed reminiscent of the Ant-Lions from Half-Life 2 but they were original, don't get me wrong...
The dialog is a bit obnoxious at times but it fits the characters through whose eyes we've seen, since they're kids in their mid-twenties they spend a lot of time going "Oh sh*t! Did you see that!" which is what you would do in the event of a monster attack anyway... The hand-held view can get annoying because there isn't always something to look at on screen, we see lots of the floor and our camera-man's feet but for those crucial moments where we see the monsters the camera is still enough to get a good look at them...
Another plus is that this is a short movie, it doesn't waste your time and it leaves you wondering where the monster came from, they never tell you! You're left to come up with your own theories, but I'm hoping for a non-hand-held sequel where the origins of the monster are explained at least in part... There is a bit too much time spent on the characters, who we really don't care much about at first but by the end I found myself rooting for Rob because, after all, he's just like us no matter how successful he becomes...
It leaves you hanging, its a solid movie, not without its issues but at the same time its an exciting adrenaline filled romp through the monster movie genre...