Wanted....better

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2008)

The problem I had with Cloverfield was not in the way "nameless" actors played their parts or even in the way a single camera recorded what was going on - it was in the telling of the tale.
I grew up in New York City and no matter how one wants to romanticize it - no one in their right mind, no matter how "in love" they are with a person would be ABLE to go and get them in a disaster of proportions such as this. It's not about compassion - of course you'd have it, but it is about survival - yours. And New Yorkers know better than anyone that self-preservation is the number one thing on their minds. Especially when Godzilla - or a reasonable fact similar - comes to town.
Again, this was NOT a feature film. I could have seen this in the SCI-FI cable channel and have been thoroughly entertained. Especially with it's running time.
There is something marketable about the idea of this film, but when you pay upwards $15 to sit down and look at it, you're pretty much ticked. The beginning of the film - the set up - was plausible enough - but it just went on too long for my tastes. And there were a few plot holes left for the viewer that could have easily been worked out more for the suspense of it all, which it was not. Sorry, but I felt that the film was "going somewhere" - - then the strike happened and they had it end it abruptly to get it to the theaters.
They're doing a sequel and for the first time I'm going to write: GOOD. This is one film that needs one, and my fingers are crossed that they don't fall into the same mistakes as before. If not, Cloverfield 2 can be a major chilling, scary, possible classic and a wonderful "let's pick up where we left off and fill those holes for ya" film. There is potential here.