Watch this film, but be prepared for the flaws.

Rating: 7/10 (29 September 2009)

I just re-watched Cloverfield, I originally saw it in the Cinema when it was first released and remember enjoying the film, but disliking parts of it, so a year later decided to re-watch it to get a better idea of what exactly worked and what didn't.
My first thought after seeing it again at home, even on a big TV, is that the atmosphere is much stronger in the cinema. I remember driving home after seeing the film in the cinema once it was already dark out, and looking at the sky and finding it too calm, after seeing the explosions and fires and general mayhem brought about in the film. I think moments like these are what make movies most memorable, which reminds me of being a kid watching Jumanji in the cinema, and on the way home hearing the drums of a nearby circus or fair which instantly led me to think of the Jumanji drums when someone is about to discover the game.
Anyway, back on topic, this film isn't perfect, the obvious flaws are the pretty boring, elongated beginning of the movie. The first 20 minutes to me are unbearable, and one reason I love being able to watch the film at home, is that skipping the first 17/18 minutes is a trivial thing to do and very little of the feel of the film is lost. I do think it is important to establish a a "calm before the storm" atmosphere in films such as these. A film that nails this perfectly is The Host (2006), which has one of the best introductions to a monster in modern cinema. (In fact there are many similarities between The Host and Cloverfield, and anyone that even partially enjoyed one should check out the other.) Cloverfield, unfortunately, does not do the "calm before the storm" very well. The character's are not interesting, their lives are not something I want to witness 20 minutes of when they aren't running for their lives, which is obviously a big flaw in a film that needs you to feel loss when characters are killed.
I do not understand the hate towards shaky cam in films that apply it well, and this film applies it well. Unfortunately due to the acting more than anything it doesn't always feel realistic, despite the visuals being stunning and very apocalyptic. I find myself having more issue with the acting, which isn't terrible, as emotional scenes like in the subway, I feel successfully do their job. However some of the throw-away dialogue seems very difficult to listen to, which might be more of a script issue than acting, but the acting to me still feels over the top, but without a better dialogue I guess there's no real way to measure this.
I note that some reviews seem to indicate that people take issue with the lack of information of the origins of the creature and other facts and information about what exactly is going on, but I strongly disagree with this point of view. A "realistic" shaky cam film that is meant to be from the citizens' point of view shouldn't have facts, because it is unlikely facts would be given if a situation like this ever did arise. As stated in the movie "by the time you see this video you'll probably know more about this than we do", which is pretty much exactly as you'd expect, nothing is ever known the minute it happens. I hate to make 9/11 references because every review of this movie has one, but no one knew what was going on as the events of 9/11 happened, all we had was speculation.
Finally, I also have a problem with the ending of the film. I don't want to have any spoilers in this review so I will be very vague, but some of the events (if not all of them) are extremely over the top. I'm not sure how it should have ended as trying to think of the film ending earlier than it does would make it way too abrupt and would leave the film very anti-climatic. Perhaps the film would be better if the flying scenes were removed entirely, which would be sad because the visuals are very well done. Also the "face to face" scene is over the top for my liking.
I look forward to the sequel of this film, I hope they learn from their mistakes and if they do reveal more information about what exactly happened, do it tastefully and not just have a scene with a scientist explaining everything because he's a scientist and therefore knows everything.
if you haven't seen this film, do so, it is for the most part a decent film, especially in terms of atmosphere and visuals. If you see this movie at home, don't feel bad about wanting to skip a big chunk of the character introductions, because they are pretty hard to watch.