Better Than Expected

Rating: 7/10 (2 February 2008)

Given that i am not the biggest J.J Abrams fan, i headed into this with some reservations. However, i am pleased to say that 'Cloverfield' is a great success for the monster movie genre in the 21st century. By playing on the current western fear of terrorism, the film presents the kind of fear that the cinema goer can invest in, in 2008. The film also boasts some strong performances from its cast of relative unknowns, who, because of their anonymity, also add another layer of reality to the film. Having said this i feel that the films biggest success, is the use of only the camcorder footage captured by the group, which in many parts of the film greatly adds to its atmosphere and intensity, in particular in the subway scene. Despite its many strong points i feel there were two problems with the film, which hampered it slightly as an experience: Firstly, i feel that the monster itself did not quite live up to its hype, which i suppose is not surprising given, the films promotional push prior to its release. Secondly; I feel the film suffers from what i like to call return of the king syndrome with respect to the ending, as it feels that the filmmakers couldn't quite decide what they wanted to do, so they packed everything in at the cost of the films coherence.
However, despite these issues, 'Cloverfield' is great, daring, and genuinely scary popcorn cinema, and a very strong addition to the monster movie cannon.
Rob Yeomans