I can't believe so many people hated it....

Rating: 9/10 (8 February 2008)

Okay, so the whole "seen through the camera of some regular Joe" thing isn't exactly new. But you have to admit that applying the principle to a monster movie was a pretty neat idea.
Cloverfield is an awesome film. I can be a horrible nitpicker at times, and films that can truly captivate me are few and far between. Cloverfield, however, kept me firmly pinned to my seat during the entire film. It blew me away. I have almost no nits to pick at all!
-------------------------Spoilers forthcoming--------------------------
The fact that a choppy, quasi-amateurish "Blair Witch" approach is used, combined with the fact that almost no solid answers are given about what the monster is, where it comes from and why it is attacking the city, gives an outlandish concept like a giant monster attack a terrifying and nightmarish realism. We, the audience, know little more than the main characters do, which results in a sense of loss of control, bewilderment and of utter helplessness.
This is further expanded upon by the fact that none of said characters is a larger-than-life, cliché Hollywood-style hero. Presumably, there is some ex-Navy Seal guy with a rocket launcher running around somewhere, with a girl in a torn tank-top and a wisecracking ethnic-minority sidekick in tow. But this is not his story. This is about a random group of people, who suddenly find themselves in a terrifying and unreal situation. Granted, few people get to be vice-president of something in Japan while still only in their mid- to late twenties, but basically, it COULD be you out there. Running for your life with a running camera in your hand. Seeing your friends and relatives die in horrible and shockingly random ways.
There are a FEW nits to pick, of course. Such as the convenient fact that the main protagonists keep blundering into the most spectacular disasters taking place during the attack. Or the introductory holiday/party scene that was exactly long enough to become boring. But most of these are largely either excusable oversights or necessary compromises to the film's "Blair Witch" style.
All in all, this is a gripping, terrifying and even quite original film. Those who can enjoy a thriller/horror film that dares to deviate from the mainstream (even if only a little) and who can live with not getting all the answers at the end will enjoy this flick tremendously.
However, those people who prefer more "traditional" monster movies, in the mold of the classic Godzilla or Alien films, will most likely hate it. As will people who simply don't like the Blair Witch-like "one single, shaky home camera" style used in this film.