Rip-roaringly entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2008)

In this rip-roaring, home-movie styled monster movie a group of teenager partying for the departure of one their closest friends find themselves amid a blaze of destruction when a giant 'thing' starts ripping the city to shreds. One of the unlucky scamps happens to be filming the entire thing, and thus we get a faux-documentary much in the style of a megabucks version of The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla. Although the shaky camera and choice of the 1st person view may put off some viewers who suffer from motion sickness, Cloverfield for the most part is barnstorming entertainment, fully exploiting the resources available to it. The idea to shoot entirely from some poor sap's camera is not entirely original, dating back to the Italian cannibal movies of the early 80s. But it does make for an interesting take on the monster movie.