Cloverfield Review

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2008)

As we all know, this movie undertook a huge viral marketing in 2007 starting with a teaser trailer back in the summer, but what intrigued everyone was, despite that it had a release date and credited J.J. Abrams as the producer (The creator of "Alias" and the co-creator of "Lost"), the film did not reveal it's name, leaving everyone guessing what the film could be. At the end of the year, the film was revealed as "Cloverfield" (originally just a code name) and, despite speculations, turned out to be very close to what we saw in the unusual teaser. Now that the film has been released, there is still a concern of the film living up to the hype, something that very little films has succeeded in.
Firstly, the film is completely shot with a hand-held camcorder documenting footage shot from a monstrous disaster in New York and is done very realistically. The film mainly starts with a going-away surprise party for a guy named Rob. The film does drag on for a while in order for us to be introduced to some of the characters. However, as soon as we hear a thunderous roaring sound the party immediately stops and the fun begins. To see what is going on, the party guests go onto the roof of the apartment building only to witness a huge explosion in the city. In panic, everyone runs down into the street and soon after, the head of statue of liberty comes crashing down onto the road. After that, the film leads into a chaotic disaster film about the survival of a bunch of friends.
Now I may have told the synopsis of the Teaser trailer, but that's literally how the film goes. Now people have criticised the film for it's shaky hand-held camera (which many has experienced motion sickness from). It is unfair to compare it from "The Blair Witch Project", the fact that the camera is always shaking around and you usually don't get to see a lot is where the fun comes in. Quite frankly, it was like a dream come true to see how realistic they made it from start to finish, the film's style is the only way you can really appreciate the film. Now I give this a 9 out of 10 because I was surprised to see a lot of glimpses of the monster throughout the film, though you only get to see the whole thing at the end, but I will not reveal what the monster actually is. As well as praising the film's choice of style to make it very realistic, the film also works in other ways too. For instance, you never get to discover what the monster actually is and why it's attacking new york (another reason why the film has been criticised). Is it a top secret government experiment gone wrong, or is it something out of this world? You never know, but that's good because you get to make up your own idea. Despite the fact that the film does have a 9/11 feel about it (Mainly because it is set in New York), I felt that the film pays homage to the classic monster movies such as King Kong and Godzilla as well as many other disaster movies and yet the film is fresh and original. Lenght-wise, the movie is brilliantly structured with a very quick and perfectly timed pace and yet has many different scenes to make the film feel not to short and yet not too long. Unlike films such as "Pirates Of The Caribbean 3: At World's End", the movie is not, at any point, too slow, it is (literally) constantly 'on the edge of your seat" and the film has no time too bore you.
Overall, "Cloverfield" is fast, thrilling, exciting, highly entertaining and very original. And it is one of the few, if not, the first film that actually lives up to the hype, and is best to see at the cinema. A very good cinematic start for 2008!