I Was Not Disappointed

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2008)

Before seeing Cloverfield today, I read a few reviews on IMDb; not that that in any way would have influenced whether or not I would have gone to see it. (At the same time, I wish I had read the comments on "Stinger" before I plunked down 5 bucks at Blockbuster a few weeks ago-I totally agree with "IMDb 3972"-getting a tooth pulled or an enema would be preferable, but I digress).
Anyway, for my money, (5.75 for the twilight matinée) Cloverfield is well worth the time. It's not fair to compare it with the overrated "Blair Witch Project" or "Godzilla '98". The concept of New York being attacked by monsters has been done to death since King Kong paved the way in 1933. Since then, we've seen the city wrecked by giant comets (Deep Impact & Armegeddon) blown up by aliens (Independence Day) briefly invaded by Rodan (Godzilla: Final Wars), and tragically attacked by real life monsters on 9/11-no doubt there are elements of that seen in this movie. The concept may not be original, but the way it was handled by J.J. Abrams is certainly groundbreaking. The whole film is made up from the footage of a hand held video camera found after the events of the film are over. There is no explanation of where the monster came from, the ending is very anti-climactic, which, in my opinion enhances the film.
The design of the monster was handled so well, it's almost impossible to describe-you just have to be there. I guarantee you haven't seen it anywhere else, not even in "Stephen King's The Mist".
The special effects are top notch. New York never looked more devastated. This is one bad-ass Kaiju.
It's what "Godzilla '98" should have been.
Rating: ***** out of *****