Why all the grumbling?

Rating: 9/10 (21 January 2008)

I know a lot of people have been whining about certain aspects of this movie ie; the shaky-cam, the ending, the beginning... I see all of those complaints as being reasonable but why it is being touted as "garbage" by people is beyond me. I don't recall the trailers telling people It will move you....A Masterpiece.....Oscar Contender. No this was a balls to the walls MONSTER MOVIE, the only way I can explain it is as a theme park ride. If Universal Studios had this thing I would be there right now. Who cares about the creatures origins? This wasn't about introducing us to the next Godzilla, it was about throwing us into a crazy situation and letting us feel the hysteria felt by the characters. I personally wish more Hollywood blockbusters were like this, I mean the plots to those are usually just thrown together to pad the running time anyways, at least this movie gave you something you haven't seen before. Besides a few thousand unlucky souls in NY none of us have experienced this amount of pandemonium in our lives. Maybe not everyones cup of tea, but it was a rush to sit through.
Personally my only complaint is the beginning, I know they wanted to set up and easy to relate to situation for us. But these characters were not real and the things they said and did were not real. The "Guy Talk" about Beth was ridiculous, I don't ever recall my friends actually talking to me like I was in a Real World episode. So its funny that the only thing resembling a story is what bugged a good chunk of us. This is because we wanted a thrill ride, and we got one, it just took about 15 minutes longer to get there than we wanted. But when it did it kicked my a**. Also there were a number of people talking behind me about the shaky-cam "do you want to leave? I told you it was like this, so stupid" They stuck it out for about 15 minutes and then the first attack came and their a**es never left their seats. Neither will yours, unless you have some nervous tick that makes you hate movies well things aren't spelled out to you. I mean honestly, would it make the movie better if they were like: OMG thats a Gidransaurus!!! It was thought to be extinct in the Jurassic Period only to resurface because of chemical waste from earth pollution! I think that may ruin it.
Anyone who got past the lack of back story in Children of Men and saw what a great movie that was(though Children of Men is in a totally different league), will see what I saw in Cloverfield. Thrill ride from Hell....New York.