Dismissed by many as Blairzilla, and unfairly so. Yes it riffed on two very iconic pop culture institutions — the ‘giant monster attacks large city’ disaster movie and the camera-wielding Youtube generation. But it did so with such finesse, such promise and such payoff it’s almost impossible not to like (unless you’re one of those who get seasick by the handheld look.

If you don’t know the story you must have flown to a desert island just after last Christmas. The trailer shows a group of young, attractive partygoers in a New York apartment when a huge roar erupts across the city. The group piles up to the roof, wondering what’s going on when a massive explosion lights up the horizon and the head of the statue of liberty comes rolling down the street…

Director Matt Reeves gives an enlightening commentary where he deals with some fascinating aspects of the technique. For example, some of the very long takes (by the camera-wielding hero Hud) are actually many different shots, the joins invisible amid the various fast movements of the panicked handycam operator. What Reeves doesn’t talk about — somewhat disappointingly — is the cultural impact of the film, like the obvious September 11 parallels.

There’s also a host of featurettes on the making of, special effects and deleted scenes with optional commentaries. If you liked the film, you’ll love every shred of information you can get about it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 10:15 am and is filed under DVD Reviews, Film, Xpress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.