Monster? Tick. Mystery? Tick. Great story, depth and characters? Er... no tick.

Rating: 5/10 (12 February 2008)

Cloverfield is a film about a monster attacking Manhattan. On that premise it does a good job: we're given a good view of what it would look like if a monster really did attack a real-world city. The camera work might not be for everyone, but the angle the film is trying to give pays off if you let it (though I'm aware the way the film is made is actually nausea inducing for some people, so fair enough to them).
Where the film falls short, though, is with character and - overall - plot development. The characters are your typical MTV-douchebags who offer any viewer with the slightest hint of intelligence no reason to care for them. And because the characters are useless you barely care for their actions throughout the story, which of course devalues the whole experience.
Fortunately if you go to see this movie with your main objective being to see a huge, somewhat plausible, monster rampaging on the loose you'll be more than happy. There's plenty of mystery but subtle clues peppered throughout the film to add your own kind of depth, so that balances the shortcomings a bit.
At it's core Cloverfield is and always was intended to be a monster movie. It does that part well, and the story surrounding the monster could be good material for future work, but the story surrounding the - could care less for - characters doesn't allow Cloverfield to elevate to anything more than a brainless popcorn movie.