Cinéma-Vérité of Our TIme

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2008)

We have rap and hip-hop, internet and mobile communications, as well as Survivor and The Amazing Race. These are what our generation can claim our own, and that applies to The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, cinéma-vérité of our generation.
To caution potential viewers about to catch the movie, calling it a disaster or monster film might be misleading. Essentially at it's heart, Cloverfield is a romance story. The character which the film "documents" through a hand-held video camera, is Rob, a New Yorker about to leave for Japan to take up a vice-chairman position. This present story is recorded over a previous taping of Rob's day with childhood friend Beth. Through the little snippets that have not been recorded over, it can be deciphered that they have spent a night together and the situation between them is now awkward. Are they just friends? Is Rob willing to stay in New York? Things are unresolved and Beth leaves in a huff.
This is when the story takes a turn. An explosion resembling an earthquake shatters through the city. As the party makes its way onto the street, the head of the Statue of Liberty crashes onto the street. A terrifying cry of echoes in the air, signifying that this is the act of a living thing rather than an earthquake or terrorist act. As the city is being evacuated, Rob receives a distress call from Beth. Along with Hud, his best friend-cum-cameraman, his brother's girlfriend and Hud's love interest, they make their way back to Cloverfield, where Beth's apartment is. Why does he go back for someone who is not even officially his girlfriend? Not to give away anything in terms of plot, I can only say it's hard to see someone you love die, but it's worse to leave someone to die without her knowing you love her.
What happens next is for you to find out. As I left the cinema, I noticed that the majority of the viewers seemed disappointed at how the movie turned out. Just look past the set expectations that a genre carries with it, suspend your disbelief and enjoy a film that will be a classic that is representative of our time.