The concept behind this movie is one that sounds good on paper, but to fully capture that idea leads to unforeseen problems. The decision to take the “handy-cam” approach to fully immerse the viewer into the moment can be compelling and also disorienting to the point of exhaustion. If you exclude the scenes where the camera is shaking so vigorously for such an extended period of time that I feel a seizure coming on and the cornball love story dialogue, then you are left with a suspenseful and engaging film. Perhaps some find the handy-cam style appropriate, but I just cannot do it. The positives to the handy-cam style are that we get to feel that we are there with the characters more intimately and the viewer can possibly buy that they are watching “found footage”, to add to the realism. It is just at the risk of distracting the viewer from the actual substance of a film, or lack there of.
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Cinematography: Michael Bonvillain
Written by: Drew Goddard
Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David
Runtime: 1h 25m
Genre: Action
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
