Cloverfield

Some people have derisively compared this film to The Blair Witch Project because it was all told from the point of view of someone's shaking camera. Unless you have motion sickness, I don't think that's a bad thing. What matters is who's in front of the camera. While The Blair Witch Project featured annoying people screaming at each other, this movie actually made me care about the characters. In fact if it had continued with the romantic drama tone established during the first half hour, I STILL think it would have been worth watching and that's the biggest compliment I can give it.

Of course people will be watching this movie for the visceral pleasure and Colverfield delivers. Many thrilling visual and sound effects wowed me (there were a few times I yelled out in shock at a sudden scare). Any horror film will also benefit from a sense of entrapment and this movie pulls off the seemingly impossible feat of making New York City seem claustrophobic because there was seemingly nowhere to hide from the monster.

What is the monster? Whatever it is clearly is meant to be an allegory for the carnage 9/11 inflicted on New York, much the same way Godzilla was meant to be an allegory for the damage inflicted on Japan by the atom bomb. There are moments seemingly recreating the documentary footage from 9/11, and they give the film verisimilitude. Touching upon real life horror, plus creating characters that we can relate to and care about, and assaulting our senses with incredible sights and sounds leads to entertainment worth watching many times over. Perhaps the 80 minute run time will bother some people, but on the other hand I think that's better than a film wearing out its welcome. Great job J.J. Abrams and company!

I didn't have high hopes for this one, having read the reviews. Monster movie meets Blair Witch. But it's absolutely an OK flick.

Great effects and an extremely cool apocalyptic atmosphere. Definitely worth a watch.

Hand-held camera can be tiring, yes - but in this case, and combined with the great effects, it works.

The plot itself isn't exactly news, but as it's all seen from the antagonists point of view and with no further explanation, you really get that "what would I have done"-feeling.

Yes, we need explanations, but I really like that Abrams hasn't tried to tag on an ending explaining what happened.

So, I went to a 5PM showing of Cloverfield today. It was pretty good. I found the characters to be very human and developed quite nicely over the course of the story. The special effects were excellent, with quite a few "oh $#!@" moments.

Be warned: If Blair Witch Project made you nauseous, then I don't recommend Cloverfield. The *entire* movie is filmed in the "handy-cam" style of the trailer - but in my opinion, it works better here than in Blair Witch. It helped draw you into the movie and make you feel like you were in it, and it made the CGI more convincing.

Very intense film.

They needed Godzilla to fight that thing, not tanks or missiles!

Jokes apart, it's a well-acted and well-made found footage feature, no doubt whatsoever. However, I remember liking the movie much more when I first saw it in my teenage years. I vividly recall caring for the whole ensemble and the devastating tragedy that struck them out of nowhere.

More than a decade later, I cannot state the same, though. Perhaps it's the overexposure of the found footage genre in general or the fact I've now gotten habituated to such filmmaking and have seen much better works in the process. Whatever the reason, it did not resonate with me on the same level this time; I wish it did.

I genuinely enjoyed this movie and found its concept to be interesting. However, I do know some other people who have not enjoyed the shaky camera style.