- Directed by Matt Reeves
- Written by Drew Goddard
- Stars Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxqSIsxMlYQ
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a unique take, showing a first-person view of a kanji attack on New York City. We get to know the characters and care about them a bit, then follow their ordeal as things unfold. It’s gripping once things get going, and it’s pretty realistic.
Synopsis
We see information from the Department of Defense stating that this was a memory card found after the “Cloverfield” incident. So basically, we’re told right off the bat that this is “found footage.”
By the date stamp and Rob’s narration, we see that it’s April in New York City, and he takes footage of Beth in the bedroom. Footage cuts to Jason and Lily wandering around town getting ready for a party weeks later. The same camera is being used, and Rob and Beth’s footage is being overwritten. They meet Hud, who will carry the camera around the party, and he’s looking forward to talking to Marlena. Rob is going to Japan, and this is a going-away party.
Beth does her recorded bit for Rob, and it seems she likes Rob more than she should. They had sex some weeks ago, but that’s a secret – the footage that started the movie out. Hud is soon telling everyone at the party this closely-held secret. Rob and his brother Jason talk about Beth and how Beth’s out of Rob’s league anyway.
Suddenly, there’s an earthquake or something. They turn on the news and hear about an oil tanker capsizing near the Statue of Liberty. A group of party guests goes up to the roof to see if they can see anything. An explosion across the river sends debris flying, and suddenly, there’s a mass stampede in the streets. Next thing you know, the Statue of Liberty’s head is lying in the middle of the street, and we get little glimpses of something big knocking down the Empire State Building.
The group hides in a little store as the lights go out, the windows implode, and we hear growling and huge footsteps outside. When they finally go back outside, it’s a ground-zero-level disaster out there.
James says the creature is still out there, so he wants to escape Manhattan. Some of the party decides to go with him. They all walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Rob gets a call from Beth, and a giant tail smashes down on top of Jason, killing him and smashing the bridge.
We start to see military vehicles arriving in the city as the giant monster wanders around the downtown skyscrapers. We see a news report showing smaller creatures falling off the big one and attacking soldiers.
Rob gets another call from Beth; she can’t move, as part of her apartment collapsed on top of her. Rob decides to return for her in midtown, right where the creature is. Lily, Hud, and Marlena follow along to help.
They duck into a subway just as the monster is overhead, and we get a pretty good glimpse of it this time. Rob gets a call from his and James’s mother, and that’s awkward since James is dead. We get a dramatic lull as everyone rests for a bit. Hud and Marlena talk about where she was supposed to be tonight. Rob thinks it’s a good idea to walk through the subway tunnels. They notice that all the rats are running away from something.
They turn on the night vision on the camera and are soon attacked by some of the little spider-like parasite things that fell off the big monster. Well, not quite little. They’re the size of large dogs. They fight them all off, but some of the group are wounded now. Marlena has a big bite on her shoulder. They think it might be best to get out of the tunnels after that, so they find a stairway out of the subway.
Marlena gets dizzy, but she wants to press on. They are captured by the army and taken into a temporary operations center. The soldier says he doesn’t know what that thing out there is, “but it’s winning.” As Rob argues with the soldiers about helping Beth, they are not cooperative. Once the soldiers notice that Marlena has been bitten, all Hell breaks loose. Then Marlena simply explodes. The soldier lets Rob and the group go, but he warns that the government is considering wiping out the whole of Manhattan if they can’t kill the monster.
They make their way down the road and spot Beth’s apartment on the 39th floor of a building that has literally fallen over and is leaning against another building. They end up going up the straight building and climbing over to the leaning building.
They kick in Beth’s door and find her impaled on the floor. They pull her off the rebar that was going right through her/ They look out the window and see the monster coming right toward their precariously leaning skyscraper. They make it down the stairs and back onto the street as we see the creature fighting the full strength of the military.
The group makes it to the takeoff zone, and Lily gets on a chopper; the others have to wait for the next one. The creature is right there, but the rest of the gang gets on a copter and takes off. We hear that the government is about to start its bombing run.
The bomber drops a massive load, and the monster is hit. Then it jumps up and knocks the helicopter out of the sky. Crash! We hear on the radio that the army will drop the big bomb in just a few minutes. “If you can hear the sirens, you are too close,” it says. Hud faces down the creature in Central Park, which goes badly for Hud. Rob and Beth hide under a footbridge to avoid the thing. “We should wait here; they’ll find us,” Rob says.
Then we hear the two-minute-warning sirens. That’s bad. They both leave final messages for whoever finds the tape. Then the bomb hits, and they get buried.
Commentary
The first time I saw this, I hated it. I thought they spent way too much time at the party and getting to know characters that would all die anyway. And then we never really got to see much of the monster.
This time though, I liked it a lot more. If there really were a kaiju attack in the city, it probably would go something like this. The characters, especially Rob, make every stupid choice available to them and turn down every opportunity to be evacuated, so they definitely deserve what they get. Still, from a man-on-the-street perspective, it’s really good.