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Year:	2008
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Matt Reeves
Genre:	'Alien' invasion
Starring:	Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, Michael Stahl-David , Mike Vogel, T.J. Miller
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/
Tagline:	Some Thing Has Found Us
Favourite line:	"Whatever it is, it's winning."

J.J. Abrams (producer) inventive sci-fi actioner sees New York gripped by a state of panic as 'something' unleashes a fearsome attack on the city.

The movie starts at a house party as a bunch of well to do twenty somethings celebrate. This drags on for a good twenty minutes, by which time I was thinking 'this is rubbish', particularly because none of the characters come across as particularly likeable.
Then 'it' happens, and all hell breaks loose, and from there the film never falters as we follow a small group from the party as they try to survive the onslaught.
New York is suddenly awash with soldiers, trying to fend off the invader, and our plucky band of heroes go right to the epicentre of the action to try to save one of their friends who is trapped in a building right near the focal point of the attack.

The monster itself is well realised, borrowing liberally from Japanese anime, and there is an excellent touch when a news reporter describes things dropping off the monster, which turn out to be incredibly vicious tiny versions of itself that hunt down anything that moves.
Intense, filmed on hand held camera to give the movie a sense of realism (though in truth, the idea that what we are watching is video footage never really convinces) , and with subtle yet effective effects - and one truly iconic moment when the Statue of Liberty's head is blown clean off and careens down a street, coming to rest in the middle of it - this is stylish and well realised modern sci-fi from the creator of Lost and Alias.
An interesting side note is the comparisons that can be made with the truly horrifying footage from 9/11, in particular the white clouds of dust that billowed down streets and settled, inches thick, on anything in its path, like a city centre version of a volcano's pyroclastic cloud.
Would have got 5 out of 5 but for the cripplingly slow start.
Next time I watch this movie, I'll hit play at twenty minutes in.