must be a monster movie fan

Rating: 6/10 (18 January 2008)

This movie was excellent if you like Godzilla and other old school monster movies. Like the remake of the Poseidon Adventure, new computer CGI is used to modernize the genre. With Poseidon, it was making a ship disaster flick look modern. With Cloverfield, it was likewise taking a monster movie flick and modernizing it. Cloverfield was in no way cheesy like Godzilla though.
You have to be able to tolerate the hand held camera shots for the entire film. I do not think it was very slick of the director to show a skyscraper in New York falling straight down and sending a huge plume of dust flying through the streets. It hit a little to close to home and residents of NY, if they didn't already have a complex, probably will after seeing that. Yes, I know its just a movie, and I'm probably overreacting over one single scene, but come on, we can see a monster ravish the city without being shown a nearly identical shot of WTC tower collapse.
I don't know exactly what I was expecting from this movie but I will say that whatever it was it succeeded and disappointed. Not very helpful I know. I guess I liked all the action and scary dark tunnel moments (I especially like the going from one tower that is fine to one that is perched precariously at an angle against the good one). On the other hand I wanted more explanation of the monster and to see a shot of the city when it was all over. All in all it was a good movie that I would recommend to disaster/monster/alien movie fans. However, I would probably rank War of the Worlds, Signs, and even The Mist ahead of this one.
Like during the last movie I reviewed (The Mist) I had "America's most immature" sitting in the row right behind me (just lucky I guess)...laughing when something serious is happening and TALKING during the movie. I'm seriously gonna start going to early afternoon shows or the midnight shows (you know, the ones where you're just about the only one in the theater). Please movie goers, when they say no talking before the movie they don't say it in French, German, or Chinese so it should be easy for the average English speaking person to understand. Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. Usually I'm a much more cheerful reviewer but that kind of stuff just bugs the crap out of me.