85 minutes of my life I'll never get back

Rating: 2/10 (13 June 2008)

About as intense as watching paint dry. Bad acting + tired story plot = BORING! It was way over-hyped. I like a good a monster movie as much as the next guy, but I felt this particular film tried too hard to be edgy. I liked "The Blair Witch Project," so when I heard about this flick I was pretty excited to see it. I didn't mind the shaky camera gimmick, or even the overdone love story, but the comic relief role of the camera man (Hud) made me want to throw my shoe through the movie screen.
Nothing about the other characters made me care for them. They are annoying, whiny, and under developed. The movie is so short that you don't have time to build up any empathy for them.
Throughout the film I was trying to figure out what other movie Cloverfield reminded me of, and then on the drive home it hit me. It "borrows" ideas and plot points from about a dozen other monster movies we are familiar with. I won't tell you which ones. You will figure it out.
I really wanted to enjoy this film, but I just couldn't do it. At least the popcorn was good that night.