Monsters in Manhattan? Who would've thought..?

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2012)

"I had a good day."
I remember when I saw the teaser trailer for 'Cloverfield' at the cinema. Having Lady Liberty's head thrown to the streets of Manhattan. Wow. At the same time, advertisements of 'Cloverfield' started to take over the web. Little did they tell about the movie but I guess it worked cuz the audience found the movie.
I basically knew nothing of Matt Reeves, the director, but I guess everyone knows who J.J Abrams is. The man behind 'Lost' and the amazing 'Star Trek' reboot and 'Super 8' as his latest film. All you need is one talented name in the production and the interest level goes way up.
'Cloverfield's' 15-20 first minutes focuses mainly on the main characters. Character development shown thru flashbacks found on the camera recorder and the "live" development going on at the party and voila. There you got the assembled characters for things to come. I consider these first minutes prior to the main event important, cuz if you'd have like no interest in the persons, the film would not work at all. Some may look at this as something very dull and useless but they don't know sh*t...
After the Statue of Liberty scene, the viewer is put straight to the core of the action. The viewer knows and sees just as much as the characters. Answers like "what, why and how" aren't answered. You have to experience them yourself. Things aren't explained at any point, not even during or after the credits. The film starts as an evidence clip found on the site "formerly known as Manhattan". This leaves a good "aftertaste" when the film has ended.
The richness of 'Cloverfield' lies in its technical execution. Some may feel the shaky hand-held camera as annoying or whatever but I think that this is the stronger parts of 'Cloverfield'. This documentary like feeling works nicely and I couldn't think of any other way on how the filmmakers would have shot the film.
Use of the lesser known performers is also a good thing. It makes 'Cloverfield' look more "realistic". I really wouldn't wanna see any of the Baldwin brothers or any other B class has-been screaming in panic on the screen. The performers do a good job but then again it's mostly just panic like fear and screams displayed on screen. But I have to mention once more that it all seems so realistic.
'Cloverfield' isn't the most profound movie out there but it does have some fine, intensive and exciting scenes. It does have some illogical things here and there but as a 80 minute thrillride it works perfectly.