The "Cloverfield" review

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2008)

(Before I start this, I just want to say I'm 22, going on 23, and that I grew up watching Japanese monster movies, or "kaiju-eiga," and I consider Godzilla to be the ultimate movie monster. I've also come to love Gamera and Ultraman, and I was gosh-wowed last year by South Korea's contribution to the genre, "The Host." Now here we are at "Cloverfield," what I will refer to as "the first great American monster movie of the 21st century.")
It makes no sense to describe the plot to the "Alias" J.J. Abrams-produced, Drew-Goddard-written, Matt Reeves-directed flick "Cloverfield" in any real detail because therein lies the problem: there is no real detail, only raw, on-the-scene, up close & personal action. In a hype campaign the likes of which haven't been seen in a movie of this type for quite some time now, "Cloverfield" remarkably lives up to expectations. Ever since the first trailer appeared during the previews for "Transformers" last year, a three-syllable word has come to describe a movie to be released on January 18, 2008, and it was called "Cloverfield," even though early press releases said that wasn't the movie's real title.
So what's all the hoopla about? Some suspected a war movie, others a viral outbreak, or a terrorist attack. As you know, the plot has been kept real hush-hush, though sordid details have been allowed to leak on the Internet.
Rumor control, these are the facts -
All you need to know is this: in an inventively bizarre hybrid that combines elements of both "The Blair Witch Project" and "The War of the Worlds" with "Godzilla," a monster is laying waste to New York City. Buildings crumble, the Brooklyn Bridge is snapped in two like a twig, the military strikes back, mass hysteria as thousands try to flee the city, and a giant reptilian beast of unknown origin is causing mass destruction. The chaos is captured through the hand-held lens of a couple of terrified New Yorkers as they give a first-hand account of the devastation while trying to reach safety.
And that's all you really need to know. First of all, because this is a first-person account of a New York City monster attack, we never get to see a really good picture of the monster until somewhere close to the very end, since it decides to make its debut at nighttime in the City That Never Sleeps, and up until then all we get are brief flashes and glimpses of "it." (To get an idea of this creepy critter, imagine a reptile, like a shell-less turtle, combined with a slug and a sea crustacean. And then imagine its nastier, creepy-crawly subordinates that come to chow down on many unsuspecting New Yorkers.) To get this out of the way, this beast is a force to be reckoned with. It's certainly an impressive CGI creature creation, like all the classic Japanese monsters I grew up with - Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Gamera. But what's paramount here, is that this flick, despite any misgivings I'll probably have in the future, is way better than the 1998 American adaptation of "Godzilla."
"Cloverfield" does have some pretty wicked special effects sequences, including some genuinely intense moments of peril and a few particularly chilling sights and sounds. Some have panned the shaky and frenetic camera-work; if you were in the middle of all this chaos, would your camera be perfect and composed? The guy's right there, in the thick of it, scared to death with his closest friends; does anyone really think he's going to get the Oscar for Best Cinematography or something, if he makes it out of the city alive? I don't think so.
New York has seen some pretty wild sights over the decades. In the post-9/11 world, you would think that "Cloverfield" is the last thing Americans would want to see right now, and Abrams will be accused in the future of being insensitive to the feelings of Americans. But it seems that every so often filmmakers need to vent some unstated/unwritten frustration/aggression and this is what we occasionally get sometimes.
And as for those poor New Yorkers I was telling about? Well, their footage was found.
10/10