truthseekers

Its an average disaster movie with "Godzilla Final Wars" like special effects. Considering the hype, the fact that we have to suffer hand held camera-work which makes our moments of view of the creature, rather frustrating I felt after watching that I was being cheated of experience. Really the filmmakers got away with not having to do so much because of the hand held effect. If they had been making a full cinematic movie they would have perhaps screwed it up because it would have been harder to pull off and look good so I am sorry I just see this hand held stuff as a way to skimp out of good filmwork. For this reason I feel I was cheated. Also the people in the Uk didn't get a simultaneous release date when the movie was advertised as 18.1.08 and no name.. so the whole appeal became a joke when people in the UK never got to see it on that date. Thanks Hollywood for screwing the UK again and making the movie an instant pirates dream. Godzilla Final Wars wipes the floor with this movie anyday.

Some people have said that there was a lack of drama or acting in this film. I disagree... I though all of the characters acted well in this film and do have character however because of the cinematic feel of the movie people who are easily distracted are watching the whoosh and not peoples faces. They are used to up close TV style of acting and this film has sequences where actors are set further back from the camera in complex moving scenes.

Some of the camera-work including the sky-cam shots were so breathtaking they made me want to be that eagle and when you get to see a sky shot which zooms over the hills to show you where all the riding parties are moving I have never seen this done before and was such a great use of camera that I had to buy this movie for its technical excellence. Most movies imply locations by telling you where the other actors are... this movie flew you there and in a Western this is totally new use of this effect and made me feel that this was a Western brought totally up to date with the latest Cinematography.

The 20minutes of CGI is again something never before seen in a Western. This follows on from similar use of such footage by the director in another production he did - worth checking out if you liked seeing the snakes and lizards and crocodiles etc... I've heard some people comment to me this was very much like a DMT trip experience. Flawless CGI... not looking tacky but organic and fluid reality. If the CGI had been off just one bit people would have trashed this movie to death. Testament to the fact that the CGI is untouchable and people will still be praising this movies CGI in 20 years time just as they did with special effects from 2001.... its up there with the greats. People hae been usint the visuals in clubs on video projectors... this must say something of how impacting it is.