Cloverfield

I went and saw Cloverfield the other night with a few friends after hearing different things from different people. Let me see first off that I enjoyed it, but I'm also glad I only payed the $5.75 weekday price to see it as well. I know a lot of people had/have issues with the whole "home video" camera angle, but we'll talk about that in a minute.

The key factor to keep in mind here is that Cloverfield is a monster movie. Nothing else. As far as monster movies go I really enjoyed it. At different points but not in equal proportions I was terrified, I was bored, I was emotionally invested, and I laughed, especially at the part when one of the characters just pops in a spray of blood. Speaking of the blood, there was a remarkable lack of it. The interspersing of action and exposition was pretty balanced, and the action scenes themselves were pretty intense.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about this movie was the monster for three reasons. 1) You get to see it, quite a bit, and quite clearly from pretty early on. 2) It's a unique creature, a very interesting blend of ideas. I can't say I've ever encountered a visual representation of a creature like this before. 3) It's completely unexplained. That's about all I've got for the monster.

Finally, the camera. Yes, the filming method can be mildly obnoxious, and yeah during the first few minutes it gave me a bit of a headache. However, the headache passed as I adjusted and in retrospect this was the perfect angle, and gave this movie yet another fresh new angle because it allowed me as a viewer to feel more closely linked with the emotions, primarily the terror and sense of loss, experienced by the characters.

Overall, it was good, I liked it. If you don't like monster movies, don't bother. It should definitely be seen on the big screen, but try to score it during a matinée or at the local dollar theater if you've got one.

Score: 5 Beards