if you have no imagination, you will not enjoy Cloverfield

Rating: 8/10 (2 February 2008)

Scary fun! The cryptic trailers delivered an efficient thriller in Cloverfield. While it has gotten a lot of flak for the believability factor (hello, it's a monster movie) and for the shaky cam visual style ala Blair Witch Project, the audience anticipation has a great deal to do with the reception of the film (i.e. if you have no imagination, you will not enjoy Cloverfield).
Just like Godzilla was successful having been released right after the war, as it was used as a symbol of helpless doom, Cloverfield resonates with audiences and becomes relevant in light of terrorism. I was just hoping they wouldn't show the monster so much because just glimpsing parts of it is more terrifying than seeing it for what it is because seeing it in its entirety wasn't as frightening for me as, say, the creatures in Alien.
As for the camcorder cinematography, it does take getting used to. I usually get dizzy quickly, but I find that it helped to involve myself in the movie by imagining I was there, too. Silly, eh? But it sure beats motion sickness!