Exciting, yet disappointing

Rating: 3/10 (21 January 2008)

Like many who seen the trailer preceding Transformers, I went home and IMDb'ed it right away. It was, and still is, the best trailer I have ever seen - but maybe that's not a good thing. Good for Paramount, yes, because it got many people excited to see the movie, myself included. Not good for the audience, because I think most people will be disappointed. You don't have to follow all the online viral games to know that this is a monster movie.
That's the problem - it isn't. Everybody going into this movie expected to see a monster flick. Cloverfield is not a monster movie. For the entire 74 minutes of this movie, you see a monster on camera for what I would have to estimate is a total of three minutes. So what makes up the rest of the movie? Beginning: The beginning of the movie is awful. I knew there was a party scene, I knew it was about Rob moving to Japan. I expected 5 minutes of this, at the most. It ended up being 20 excruciating minutes, which for a 74 minute film is already way too much. After the first few uncomfortable moments, I just wanted the explosion to happen. As the movie draws on and on, that anxiety turns into anger .. what the heck is going on here? I didn't think I would be watching 20 minutes of the world's most boring party with the world's most boring party-goers and some "girl-I-slept-with" story that no audience would care about. I want some action, I want thrills, I want excitement - get on with it already. I was worried about being late to this movie, I guess I should have finished my dinner - it would have been doing me a favor not being forced to sit through that.
Middle: The middle of the movie is the only thing Cloverfield has going for it. From post-party to pre-ending, there is chaos. There are definitely some exciting moments, particularly when the little monsters attack in the subway, and what happens to the girl after that. Yes, I would have to admit, I was on the edge of my seat, wanting to know what was happening next. Unfortunately, after the end of the movie and thinking back on what the entire movie encompasses, I think it was a false suspense. 90% of this movie is people running around. The rest is an absolutely horrible love story. I still wanted to see what was going to happen next though - I expected a huge finish. After all, this is a monster movie right? Nope :( End: And in the end, it all comes tumbling down, almost literally. There is no end. Like some other user on here mentioned, it was as if somebody turned off the movie at the best moment. Imagine watching a movie where the guy has to defuse the bomb to save the city and right as he's deciding which wire to cut, the movie ends. That's what Cloverfield's ending is like. You just get so upset at it. There is no resolution.
If you want a monster movie, don't see Cloverfield. What you will get is people running around, shaky cameras (which are OK if it fits the scene) that are shaking/angled when first-graders would handle them better, and you get possibly the worst love story ever told. If the movie was going for realism, it should go all-out, not have a 100 pound girl impaled by concrete rebar in the chest suddenly awake from near-death and somehow run like Marion Jones. Or people surviving helicopter crashes like it's nothing, while the pilots die? If you enjoy seeing people run around, not about story lines or monsters at all - then you might like this movie. Show up 20 minutes late.
I wanted Cloverfield to be good, I really did. But the one-word title should be changed from "Cloverfield" to "Disappointment."