Yeah..So...Monster. Okay.

Well, we went opening day, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down and blog about it.

I anticipated and awaited eagerly the possibility of a good, fulfilling, monster catastrophe film. I've said it before ("Unearthed" entry...yech) I love monster movies. Cloverfield had the potential of sating that little area of my soul that needs monster goodness. However, it merely teased it.

The combination "Blair Witch Project"/"Godzilla" allusion is an easy one that's floating around everywhere. I, however, think it falls short in its description. In all honesty, to draw a comparison I'd have to go with: "Final Blair Godzilla Project X: Always Remember to Never Forget."

It really seemd to me like Blair Witch meets Godzilla and they sit down to play Final Fantasy X on 9/11. You, of course have your obvious BWP and Godzilla similarities in camera use and giant monster from the ocean, but it goes further than that. The feeling easily conjures images and emotions from September 11th, but really, is that intentional? Lots of critics scream it is and that riding on the emotional impact of such a situation is tacky. I don't really think it's all that intentional. And really, there are more than a handful of people I'd love to see get gobbled up by a monster in New York, but can we please destroy some other damn city? Hollywood is far too New York-centric.

Now the monster. Yeah. Anyone who's played the first bit of Final Fantasy X knows that, more than likely, so did someone that worked on this movie. It's pretty sad how very similar the two are with its litte cast-off creatures and look. I really wanted something fresh. What I got was something I'd already played through in a video game a few years back.

The speical effects seemed well done. Really well done. However, I can't be a very accurate critic of them since I never got a very good look at anything. This is where the home video camera thing enhanced the special effects by not letting us see them for too long, but detracted from it for me because I wanted to see them clearly.

And let me tell you this. If they ever anounce the brand name of the camera used in the movie I'm buying one because that is one nasty-ass sturdy camera. I'll never have to buy one again since it's apparently capable of enduring nuclear onslaught.

All this being said, it isn't a bad movie. It was decent monster fluff that was exciting for an hour or so. Overall I felt like I watched a well-done action segment from a larger movie, but haven't seen the rest of it yet. Hence the reason none of us will be at all shocked when a sequel or prequel comes out telling about how the creature originated.

Phred Phun Phactor: 5 out of 10

In my opinion, for a far more satisfying, though smaller scale movie of similar story, watch:

The Host