So it doesn't quite live up to the hype, but nothing that's had this amount of fan-boy speculation wanked in its general direction could live up to it. The fact that it very nearly does is incredible in itself. Genius marketing campaign aside and taken on its own merits this is thrilling event cinema at its best. Having the entire attack seen from the point of view of a camcorder-wielding everyman is a masterstroke. For the duration of the film you're there at street level among the panic and smoke, only catching glimpses of the threat and thus not being able to quite grasp its anatomy or scale. It causes a palpable sense of terror and it's sustained impressively for most of the run-time, only slipping on the odd occasion when you're shown too much (which is why I'm praying all this talk of a sequel comes to nought).
Of course these shaky-cam deals aren't to everyone's taste, and the character-driven realism might not satisfy people who want some fast cuts of fighter jets and slow-mo explosions in their blockbusters, but these people would be missing out on the most visceral thrill-ride to come out of Hollywood in donkey's yonks. A genuinely frightening and unsettling triumph of a movie, so for once you can (almost) believe the hype.
Of course these shaky-cam deals aren't to everyone's taste, and the character-driven realism might not satisfy people who want some fast cuts of fighter jets and slow-mo explosions in their blockbusters, but these people would be missing out on the most visceral thrill-ride to come out of Hollywood in donkey's yonks. A genuinely frightening and unsettling triumph of a movie, so for once you can (almost) believe the hype.