Cloverfield is an awesome ride, but not for the weak of stomach

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2008)

Well, the trailers give you a good idea of what to expect. More or less, you have the typical 'Godzilla-esque' monster ripping New York City and new one, but the entire film is shot through a single home video camera ala 'The Blair Witch Project.' What you don't expect is how well the entire thing works together. Anyone could have made this an amazing epic with background music, dramatic angles, seamless scene transitions, etc. But J.J. Abrahms blends the home camera work into the movie without all this and gives the audience the feeling that they are actually a part of this intense experience in a way that such dramatic frivolities can't.
From beginning to end, you see things through the eyes of the characters. But this does have its drawbacks. At least twice, I spotted folks getting up to head to the lobby, unable to put up with the motion sickness caused by the spinning camera. I suppose that is the only reason I didn't give this a full ten out of ten.
Basically, if you love giant monster films, you'll get a great trip out of Cloverfield. But, if you're prone to motion sickness or anything like that, you might be better off finding something else to watch, or bringing a few of those motion sickness patches along to the theater.