I was genuinely gob-smacked...

Rating: 9/10 (3 February 2008)

Where to begin? Firstly,a quick nod to all the forum flamers and negative reviewers here: Yes, this is a VERY shaky film and could induce motion sickness in some, but that is not a reason to mark a film down. If the motion detracted from the storytelling, I could understand but, in my humble opinion, the camera in this film comes off as a character in it's own right. At least, unlike a certain other film, the camera's picture quality is utterly perfect for most of the film and, also unlike that other film, you get to see a fair bit of this film's 'witch'...
From the moment this retrieved camcorder footage begins, you are fed crumbs that come together neatly later on. Rob films his new sweetheart, Beth. All of a sudden, (as this is a typical linear recording,) it's a month later and Rob's brother has acquired his camcorder and is unwittingly about to record Rob's friend's goodbye messages over these earlier memories of what turns out to be a now soured relationship. These messages are chillingly echoed at the end of the movie, as are the occasional breaks in the current recording, revealing some of the too-short time Rob spent with Beth.
After just enough time to become acquainted with the major characters, Cloverfield appears. And what an appearance. If you want to know what it feels like to be caught in the middle of a surprise terrorist attack, a-la 9/11, I imagine the feelings I experienced by proxy through Hud the camera guy's perspective, and those around him, would not be too far off the mark.
I will say little about the beast, except that you DO see it. Not too often and not too much of it. (What person is going to run with a camcorder toward such a thing, with buildings collapsing around them and soldiers running amok?) But later on, you are rewarded with some honestly brilliant creature effects, or at least you are convinced of such because you think it is being filmed live, with a camcorder... (...all of a sudden, the decision to use this type of camera makes PERFECT sense.)
There isn't too much story from here on in. The need to survive is easily enough to drive you onward, but the aforementioned sour relationship comes to the fore here to add a little bit of humanity to the mix and, conveniently, give our victims a reason to actually get closer to Cloverfield while everyone else is bugging out.
Overall, the acting was appropriately tense, camera-work (don't laugh,) was excellent, and the special effects some of the most 'realistic' I think I have ever seen. There are a couple of oddities, such as the nasty Nokia product placement throughout certain scenes, (BAD idea, so obvious, the damn camcorder moves at one point to position the subject on the far left of the screen and allows the centre/right to be filled with a massive nokia poster on a wall! Another scene has a crowd quieting in the lower half of the screen to allow Rob, in the upper centre, to give a speech, and guess what someone in the crowd holds over the heads of everyone else so they can record his speech? Slap bang in the middle of the cinema screen? A bright pink nokia! Stop it!) There was also the very odd 'Dolby Digital' moment that I won't spoil, but when you get there, you'll know it!
Nevertheless, this one still pushes all my buttons and I have finally found a reason to buy an HDTV and HD-DVD.
9 out of 10