My Cloverfield review

[JDeRouen]

[spoiler space]
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Well, it's kind of hard to review nothing, and, sadly, that's exactly what Cloverfield was; nothing. Well, that's probably a little harsh. It was a very exciting, scary, seat-of-your-pants viewing, but ultimately it felt like I was watching an idea rather than a movie.

A huge, Cthuluish-looking monster which you only kind of ever see clearly comes from (maybe) the ocean and wreaks havoc across Manhattan, shooting out little baby monsters that also wreak havoc. The entire movie is told through a jittery hand-held video camera, following Rob, his girlfriend Beth, his brother Jason, his girlfriend Lily, Marlena, and cameraman Hud. Jason is killed off pretty quickly, and one by one they all go down.

The video camera, it proclaims at the start of the movie, was found in central park by the Dept. of Defense. Once the last of our group of people dies - people we're not really given much reason to care about - the movie is over. The camera shows a scene of what it had been taping over (Rob and Beth on a subway, laughing and smiling) and... that's it.

No explanation for what the monster was, where it came from, what it was doing there, nothing. Like I said, it felt like more of an idea than a fully fleshed-out movie.

What was there was good, and exciting, but overall I'm disappointed.

[UOBob]

No explanation for what the monster was, where it came from, what it was doing there, nothing. Like I said, it felt like more of an idea than a fully fleshed-out movie.

Thats pretty much my pet peeve when it comes to monster movies... I wanna know who, why, where, what, when, etc, etc.

Thanks for the heads up... be catching this one on cable.

[kingdom warrior]

I don't Think the idea really was to care about them.....only because it was supposed to have been a found tape. If you were to find a video of people in it I don't think you really care about them.It's more of being a voyeur and seeing the tape.

The idea is the Dept of Defense finds the camera with the tape. It's kept because you see everything unfold...and Documents the Giant creature and the smaller ones.
Plus it was a losing battle for them.

I liked it alot but if they were to sequel this which I'm sure they will. We may see in a normal movie style.

[toys2cool]

I've been wanting to see this one,but I think I'll wait for DVD

[megozilla13]

I haven't seen it yet but have been looking forward to it.

I think the fact that not everything is explained and that all loose ends are not tied up at the end is actually a good thing.

I saw a test screening of the Blair Witch about 4 months before it was released. This first version was a great movie for the very reason that nothing was really explained. You left the theatre with a million questions trying to put it all together and make sense of it. When the movie was officially released thay had re-editted it and added parts to explain everything. I hated it.


mikej

[PCofmisfittoys]

i like monsters movies as a whole , but i can't remember the last good Monster movies,,godzilla..terrible , King Kong even worse , whats left that was good.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Blair Witch worked for me because I saw the Sci-Fi channel special first, which documented the "history" of the Witch, and then we saw the movie. While I didn't believe these kids were actually killed/missing, I did think the legend of the Blair Witch was an actual legend, not made up by screen writers. The Sci-Fi channel special actually worked on me better than the movie, but it enhanced the experience. Of course by the second weekend of release, everyone knew the WHOLE thing was made up, and the appeal was gone.

So now that I know what this is, I have no desire to see it. But that's okay, I just wanted to know, or I wouldn't have read the spoilers!

Chris

[Sideshow Spock]

It's got a very respectable 77% fresh rating going on RTs:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cloverfield/

[JDeRouen]

A lot of people liked it, and even I liked parts of it; I just didn't think it was very fleshed out and, for me, that's what I want in a movie. I want characters I can identify with or at least care about to a certain degree, and I want some explanation for what I've just watched unfold. I just didn't get any of those things with this movie.

[Hector]

I'm going to check it out after the weekend to avoid the big crowds.

[Airdave817]

Looks like this is going to be a Netflix pick. Or maybe Starz.

[Hector]

I think it's going to be a huge hit.

[The Toyroom]

No interest in this one....if it's anything like the aformentioned "Blair WItch Project" I'll pass. I HATED that freakin' movie. Wasn't scary at all IMO and I hated those damn kids.

[jwyblejr]

Blair Witch worked for me because I saw the Sci-Fi channel special first, which documented the "history" of the Witch, and then we saw the movie. While I didn't believe these kids were actually killed/missing, I did think the legend of the Blair Witch was an actual legend, not made up by screen writers. The Sci-Fi channel special actually worked on me better than the movie, but it enhanced the experience. Of course by the second weekend of release, everyone knew the WHOLE thing was made up, and the appeal was gone.

So now that I know what this is, I have no desire to see it. But that's okay, I just wanted to know, or I wouldn't have read the spoilers!

Chris

Yeah,I remember that special. And then a couple days after that aired USA Today ruined all of it by giving everything away.

[Bo8a_Fett]

It will proberly become the "iconic" monster movie for the masses as "Independance Day" was for sci-fi....they are ok for popcorn movies but I too prefer a little more cerebral stimulation for my money......dvd only for me I think.