Very Good and Actually Shocking

Rating: 8/10 (25 February 2009)

I rented this on DVD, but I wish I had seen it on the big screen. I thought that the ruse of seeing it as if it had been filmed by people actually in the situation was effective, although there are those who decry it as a "Blair Witch" rip-off technique.
In our Youtube & reality show obsessed world, I don't find it strange at all that someone would want to try to document events so strange. I think it would be a natural impulse to a 20 or 30 something individual and a natural way to try to feel like they had some kind of control over an out of control situation. Or maybe just for the $$$ or fame from being the one who got such footage.
This movie isn't supposed to be analyzed, it is supposed to be experienced as if you were there. That is why the dialogue is as banal at times as it is. How thought-out and snappy do you think conversation is during a natural disaster/terrorist attack etc.????? People do things that seem strange, hmmmm ever heard of victims of large scale events being in a kind of state of shock?
If you need everything spelled out for you, you won't like this movie. They tell why it is named Cloverfield in the opening scenes. If you missed it, you need to try more movies that aren't so formulaic.
Some of the reasons people are posting for not liking this movie are soooo funny. Like someone said it wasn't "realistic" because the character of Lily would never wear those shoes. Um, okay, hello? It was supposed to be an unforeseen disaster situation, was she supposed to know that ahead of time? Do you think anybody caught in 9-11 wore shoes not conducive to fleeing the scene??????
I cared about the characters and I was glad that they didn't go to the easy ending of letting everybody live. I was disappointed that they did go for the "money shot" of clover at the end. It would have been more effective to have only seen parts of clover and try to put it together in your head.
I found the wry comments of Hud throughout to be pretty funny in such a dire situation. I definitely recommend the move, but not if you have a queasy stomach in general, need meds to ride in a boat, or are easily frustrated by a movie where you don't have someone to tell you what is going on every second.