Cloverfield

Reviewed by David Amesse
May 10, 2008

Director: Matt Reeves Studio: Paramount Pictures MPAA: PG-13 Website: Click Here

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

Cloverfield is an immensely creative monster movie for the twentieth century produced by highly regarded creators in the entertainment industry; J.J Abrams, the creator of hit shows like Alias, and Lost, and directed by Matt Reeves, and written by Drew Goddard, whose credits are any ware from Buffy to lost.  There is no reason why this movie would fail.

Cloverfield used a pretty interesting marketing campaign to promote the movie, by showing you the trailer but not telling you what it is; there were no titles.  It really didn’t leave you with anything but suspicion.  “Cloverfield” was slated to be the biggest action movie prior to the summer blockbusters, however if you were looking for a plot, climatic conclusions, and visual stunning special effects, then  you are  wasting your time.  This movie is a middle chapter; there is no beginning, and no ending.  To sum it all up, it’s a voyeuristic adventure from the perspective of ordinary people through the eye of the camera.  The actors and the audience are all on the same ride.  We were all seeing the events in this movie as they unfold.  As an audience member  you have to be ready to project yourself as one of the characters, or this movie will just be an uninteresting bore.

The movie is very hard to watch; unsteady camera work, weak dialogue, and many unanswered questions.  The movie captures the intensity and mayhem that would accompany such a disaster.  The characters were pretty uninteresting, to I just credit that to the over all feel of the movie I think that was by design.   Cloverfield does hold a lot of surprises and definitely keeps you on the edge of you seat.  I didn’t get into all the hype to try to figure what this movie was all about prior to seeing it. I decided I wanted to see this movie with a blank slate, and I’m glad I did, otherwise I think I would have been truly disappointed.  I do hope they decide to do a sequel that would accompany this movie to give it a little bit more depth, and then I think Cloverfield would stand on its own two feet, but for now it’s an incomplete movie.

The movie is worth the full price of admission if you know what your getting your self into, however for the reset of us I would still recommend seeing it maybe matinee to save a couple of dollars.  Love it or hate it you will definitely have something to talk about when you’re with your friends.

More Images :