There's a place for shaky, hand-held camera-work. The opening scene to Saving Private Ryan, for example, is a masterpiece. Here, however, it's merely annoying. For much of the film it takes the viewer out of the narrative, as they struggle to work out what exactly is going on. I might add that the shaky camera-work even makes a pointless return for the closing credits.
Set in the near future, when most of humanity has been wiped out by an unspecified cause; and where the few survivors are obliged to barricade themselves indoors during the hours of darkness, as they are under attack from strange alien creatures, the film centres on Nicholas Cage, who lives with his twin teenage sons (Jaeden Martell and Maxwell Jenkins) and survive by foraging and subsistence. Another, larger, family group lives a short distance away. Both families keep livestock, which seem to be immune from nocturnal attack, for no apparent reason.
Cage fades from the narrative for a long stretch, and the film is carried by the two boys plus Sadie Soverall as the daughter of the neighbours. All three turn in solid performances, but are done no favours by the tissue-thin (and hole-ridden) plot, listless dialogue and woeful camera-work. Quite apart from the shakiness, it's often difficult to work out what exactly is going on. Yes, most of the dramatic scenes take place in darkness, but there are ways of making it possible to follow the action.
As an aside, a quick check of the the current ages of the juvenile leads, compared to their on-screen appearance, suggests that this film was shot at least four years ago, and has spent most of the intervening time in post-production hell, as the editors tried to get something coherent out of what they had. I presume they did their best.
The creatures themselves are great when they're unseen or only hinted at. When they make a fuller appearance, however, they're very disappointing.
A watch-and-forget film.
