"Cloverfield" better than expected.

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2008)

The beginning of the movie is pretty much what we all saw from the trailers on TV, everything else, you NEED to see for yourself. First, I will start off with the negatives. My first complaint was the story didn't have much time to develop, characters didn't have enough space for us to really understand them and who they are and what they do, but the rest of the movie makes up for that. There's Rob, who is headed to Japan, Hud, a guy who is "documenting" the party but unknowingly he is going to be the eye of the movie itself. The idea of this was truly exhilarating! Another thing, I realized more than once there were times where everyone in the entire theater had to tilt their heads to certain scenes, this became a little stressful and uneasy at times as I heard a lot of people complain and yell "come on!". Yes, the shaky camera does add realism to the movie but with a huge consequence. As a movie watcher, I find it aggravating to have to focus on the motion picture with my undivided attention, I had to squint a lot, to really see what the movie makers want you to see. This became tiresome a few times during the movie.
Positives: The story development was a B at best, it was nothing we have never seen or experienced before but we don't know why these creatures are here but they are, and they are winning in a battle against mankind but in the midst of all the horror, Rob, one of the main characters, goes on a self-journey to find the one he loves. This was the stories strong point, in my opinion. The man behind the camera, "Hud" adds humor and a few laughs during scary moments, which lightened up the mood a little bit and later in the movie, you start to really care for Hud and Rob, you get attached to these two men as they are best friends. The action was, without a doubt, the most intense in your face, thunderous, godlike and most realistic action scenes EVER to grace a motion picture. The fact that the movie really has no musical score also heightens the realism of the film. Midway through the movie, you start to realize, this does not seem like a movie, it seems like we are all watching an educational, horrific piece of evidence, a historical and tragic event that took place in time, and the world got to see the results through a camcorder on Friday, January 18th, 2008.
It's real, it's sick, it's gruesome, it's epic, its laugh out loud, this movie got my heart pumping more than any other movie I have ever laid eyes on.
It's so good, that I'm going to see it again in its 2nd weekend with a lot of friends because they need to experience it. Maybe if I can watch the movie from a straight angle, not in the very first row of the theater, this film would be 10 out of 10!