Intense, jacked-up, but only worth one watch

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2008)

i just got back from seeing the midnight Cloverfield with my friends at a local theater- so this is a fresh review right from the viewing. First off, I have no idea how they got away with making this P3-13. I think of my little 13 year old brother seeing it alone- and he wouldn't be able to handle it. That said, the movie was amazing (for the most part)
The first part is the camera work- It's entirely done with a hand-held camcorder in a first- person view. We follow the comic relief character for the most of the movie- and he does get the entire theater to laugh more than once. The beauty of the camera-work, though, is that it makes you feel actually IN the movie. It's grody, it's shaky, and I got dizzy a few times, but it puts you right in the action like the other 3rd-person movies can't. It's brilliant.
Secondly is the trailer, which although it was a giant, screaming cliffhanger, it described the entire movie. Short, with a giant cliffhanger and no explanation at the end. You really know how its going to end, since the beginning of the movie says "Footage found in what used to be called Central Park" or the like. so you know: a) Central Park gets owned, and b) whoever had the camera lost it- probably due to some gruesome death. That is the case, for every owner of it.
The first 20 minutes of the movie gets you chilled. It's a party, they develop characters, everyone's relaxing, except the few main characters for personal reasons. Once the action starts, though, it keeps on rolling. The monster is shown in clips, and the thing is so crazy you really can't piece together what it is until the camera comes face-to-face with it's bulging cheek-sacks and gigantic fangs. Then you get to see the inside of its mouth- guess why.
The scares and shocks are good too. The first bit with the parasites, where they're in the tunnel, and think it's OK until the camera turns on night vision and has all the bugs on the ceiling is crazy. The fights are intense- thanks again to the camera-work. When the girl was bitten, you think it's going to be OK- but then she dies in a matter of seconds- crying blood "guys, I don't feel so good" then being rushed to a tent to explode. That shook me like nothing else in the movie.
The characters rush into the city for a girl who's dying and dies at the end anyway, so it's pretty pointless, but the movie isn't about plot. It isn't about an explanation. It's a monster movie designed to get you involved and shake you up until the very end. A classic way of making movies, and done right in my book. Sadly, seeing it again is probably not going to happen, as I know what goes down and that ruins it, but it still was awesome on the first go- round.