Review - Cloverfield

Cloverfield
dir. Matt Reeves
2008

The hype has arrived and it is named Cloverfield. The film uses the "discovered footage" angle that the Blair Witch Project had made use of so effectively back in 1999. The story shouldn't surprise anyone who has seen the trailers and television spots. Giant monster-thing attacks New York City and these characters are our eyes in the destruction. The fact that the film plays completely from the point of view of the small party of survivors we follow is what makes this film different than so many Godzilla-esque movies in the past. Oftentimes we see the President fret over attacking the monster, we see the generals discuss it, we see a wily scientist discover the origin and often weakness of the monster. Cloverfield is not those things. It does have a monster destroying the city, but it is definitely not the type of film Hollywood usually makes in terms of monster movies.

The acting is competent enough although some will find fault with the endless casting of young good looking hipsters in the film, as if we don't see enough of them on television, but overall the cast does give you mostly believable performances. The special effects are sufficient for the film and undoubtedly benefit from the low quality of the camera work. Also the CG effects are kept to a minimum although the monster is given a few moments to shine in its full glory.

The film is short, but that helps keep the tension at the maximum and avoids too many obvious lulls in the action. Perhaps the biggest downfall of the film is that there isn't as much to it as many were lead to believe with its mysterious trailer, dozens of viral websites, and the secrecy that surrounded the project. When taken on its own though the film does an admirable job of keeping the tension going and creating the sense of awe and fear that such a situation would create. Some will find the lack of knowledge about the origins of the monster and other view points to be problematic, but this film makes not attempt to cater to that view point. A word of warning though; if you are prone to motion sickness in other shaky-cam laden films or have trouble playing similar video games you may want to avoid the film or come prepared as someone did become sick at our preview showing.

Verdict: 4 stars out of 5.