Cloverfield delivers genuine thrills, genuine chills.

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2008)

Cloverfield is quite honestly one of, if not the best movie I've ever seen in my 18 years of life.
Many people complain repeatedly about the lack of realism in this movie. However, I think it's one of the most realistic "monster attack" movies ever.
Unlike most, there is no "all-knowing" human (i.e. a scientist) that understands the monster and knows how to stop it. The main characters also aren't officials that have extra knowledge of any events or the attack itself. They're just as confused as we are. The monster and the whole attack itself are all just one big mystery, which adds to the realism.
Some have said that the perfect shots of the monster would actually be impossible to get with a hand-held camera. The shots themselves are nowhere near perfect. They are just as shaky and short-lived as they should be from a camera held by a shaky civilian.
The only real complaint I could say I have with this movie is the main camera's longevity. The thing survived a helicopter crash, a near building collapse, getting picked up and thrown by the monster, and its battery life lasted well over seven hours.
Also, I thought the ending fit the movie very well. Leaving the last two main characters in a state of uncertain danger added to the rest of the movie's theme of confusion, panic, and overall chaos. The last few explosions and blackness also left the movie open for a sequel. Does the monster ever get defeated? Do the main characters survive? Hopefully there will be a Cloverfield 2 to tell us.