Cloverfield's flaws never subtract from its strengths.

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2008)

Many excited filmgoers have been waiting for it and here it finally is, in all its glory. Cloverfield in the beginning was a simple trailer that showed an explosion, panic, and the Statue of Liberty's decapitated head lying in the streets of New York. This lone trailer invoked so much mystery into the movie since all it showed at the end was the name J.J. Abrams (TV series Lost) and the release date 1-18-08, which will now go down in monster-movie fan history as a famous date. After all the mystery, guesses, clues, photos, and intrigue, finally a second trailer was released. People were now even more excited claiming they saw the monster run in between two buildings in one shot, or they saw the monster's face as a bridge collapsed. But nobody was sure of what they saw in the trailers and press, which was a result of the brilliant viral marketing scheme of the film. Nobody had any idea what to expect, or what the monster looked like until they saw the film. All answers were answered and mysteries de-mystified on the infamous opening day of Cloverfield 1-18-08.
Cloverfield is filmed completely home-movie like with main character named Hud holding the camcorder the whole entire time. The movie begins with a going-away party for a young guy named Rob (Michael Stahl-David) who is leaving for Japan for a job as vice president at a company. As Hud (T.J. Miller) walks around interviewing people, a sudden earthquake-like interruption occurs. Everyone goes out onto the roof and sees a gigantic explosion occur. Everyone wanders out onto the street only to learn that some kind of giant monstrous entity is attacking New York. Total mayhem ensues in the city as Rob, Hud, and a few other friends such as Rob's brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), try to escape from the city. (Of course they bring the camcorder along for a home movie like none other.)
At 84 minutes Cloverfield is a short movie, but runs with frenetic and tense energy the whole time. Once the monster plot kicked in, I never felt any boredom for one moment and was constantly excited to see what was going to happen next. The character development felt shoddy but to me that only adds to the realism of what's going on. This is not like a normal film where everything is shot sequentially and time is added to developing the characters. The audience does not know these characters any more than whoever (Probably the Army) found the camcorder. Did you really expect Hud to go up and ask everyone their life story before the attack, I guess that's a no.
Many have complained that the home movie style of the film induced motion sickness, or caused them to throw up. I personally didn't get sick or feel sick at all, and neither did the two friends I saw it with. The camera angles in the movie at certain points are still and firm, and at other points shaking all over the place, and dipping up and down and every which way and that. This camera style is one of the key ingredients added for the realistic residue of the movie. But I guess I agree, Cloverfield should be labeled "WARNING: This Film May Cause One to Puke."
Now to the big excitement of Cloverfield that is the monster. We never really gain a good view of the monster in its full detailed form. There is pretty much always a building or smoke blocking part of it, or maybe the camera angle dips which happens a lot during this film. But that nevers detracts from my fascination with the unknown creature. One fact that angered some audiences was that we are never get an explanation of what the monster is, where it came from, why it's so destructive and mean, or what its goal is if it has one. To me that is the beauty of Cloverfield. I have had enough of horror-thriller flicks like Cloverfield that always spoonfeed to filmgoers all the dirty details of what everything means. The imagination can think up far more brilliant theories and details than the film itself can. Once the mystery is explained, there goes the mystery. The monster in Cloverfield was enormous, vicious, destructive, and intriguing. I'm also very glad that it's something original and not Godzilla.
The flaws are there of course, so here's what I and others found. The camera seems to be very high tech, I've never heard of a camera that's battery can last vast hours, and also survive a few huge drops without even a cracked lense. Another problem I found is that there aren't more buildings that were knocked down by the creature. We see the statue of Liberty's head thrown down a street, and also a huge skyscraper fall to the ground, but not many others are torn down. Another issue is why are there no dead bodies littering the streets? With all that's going on there should have been a few bodies scattered about. Also why is everyone on foot, did they forget their car keys? I think the instinct would be get in a car to get away from a monster attacking a city, but I guess a nice pair of Cross-Trainers solves that problem. One last issue is that the lady characters are running very fast in high heels, now I'm a guy but I don't think that'd be happening.
Cloverfield has flaws just like any other movie. But the suspense and heart-pounding excitement, and unexpected scares, are what got me. I give Cloverfield a 3 out of 4. It is the prescription to cure any fanboy's fever.