Godzilla Meets The Blair Witch Project? Sorta...

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2008)

It's always nice to see someone in Hollywood take chances and move outside normal filming practices. Although CLOVERFIELD isn't wholly original, it does have an original feel thanks to the incredibly myopic look the audience gets via its length through one camera lens.
Labeled as GODZILLA meets THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, Cloverfield definitely incorporates portions of both but comes out the other end as its own animal.
The myopic view was seen, as stated earlier, in The Blair Witch Project, which had a hand-held camera being buoyed around by an amateur film maker, allowing the viewer to get up-close and personal with the story. With Cloverfield, we get the same experience but with a bit more high-tech status along the way. New York skyscrapers crumble and explode. The head of lady liberty comes hurtling down the street. The Brooklyn Bridge gets twisted and ripped apart like tissue paper. And the "monster" causing all this ...well ...you'll have to see that for yourself. I will say, however, that it was nice to only get glimpses of the creature and its 'offspring' since that is the way it would truly happen if viewed through one person's eyes.
Which brings us to the Godzilla aspects of the film. Japan has that monster, and J.J. Abrams (LOST) gives us a new American one here. Unique is size, shape, and color, this new beast is just as tough to kill as Godzilla and has many smaller monsters (about the size of a regular dog) that it sheds like lice. And you don't want to get bitten by one of these lice; trust me! The more unique and intriguing thing about this new creature is that we know nothing about it since the story is all coming from one herky-jerky camera lens. Alien? Radioactive giant? Government experiment gone wrong? Who knows. This added to the realism of the story.
Although I understand the need for character development, I felt that the opening 20 minutes dragged on a bit too long. The love story between Jason (Mike Vogel, RUMOR HAS IT) and Beth (Odette Yustman, TRANSFORMERS) added to the story in the end but was overly forced upon us in the beginning ("We get it! They're in love already!") Two other notable items must be mentioned. The first is the realism of the camera movements and the klutzy guy who carries it named Hudd (comedian T.J. Miller). Although why he continued to carry it sometimes bordered on ludicrous, his dopey demeanor helped make this easier to swallow. The second item is the sound quality. Absolutely amazing! The thumps, bumps, and explosions were an awesome thing to hear, and the dolby digital sound quality really shone through.
Certainly something to watch on a big screen TV with a great sound system. This one is sure to please monster movie afficionados.