On the eve of his departure for Japan, Rob sees his going - away party as an opportunity to confess unresolved feelings and tie up loose ends.. His agenda takes an unexpected turn when a jolt shakes the revelers.. The crowd quiets down to watch news reports of an earthquake, then rushes to the roof to assess the damage.. A fireball explodes on the distant horizon.. A power failure follows.. Confusion gives way to panic as the partygoers stumble through the blackout and into the streets.. Amid the human screams and one inhuman roar, Rob and his friends must traverse a landscape that has changed, overtaken by something otherworldly, terrifying, monstrous.. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives..

Rated: [ M ] Frightening Sequences and Sci - Fi Violence

Cinema release: 17th January 2008

Running Time: 84 minutes

Stars: Mike Vogel, Blake Lively, Lizzy Caplan

As the movie opens, the display on the video screen tells us that this evidence was retrieved from the formation formally known as Central Park.. I believe that statement itself is pretty chilling.. Something awful must have happened in one of the most beautiful parts of New York City..

The beginning of the tape is background for the main characters in the movie.. The tape goes back and forth between the present and recent past of the characters’ lives.. This is important, so pay attention.. The action really starts at a going away party for Rob Hawkins ( Michael David - Stahl ).. He has gotten a job in Japan.. His brother, Jason ( Mike Vogel ) and their friends are throwing him a surprise going away party.. Their friend and constant talker, Hud Platt ( T.J. Miller ), has been given the task of videotaping everyone and everything at the party.. This part of the movie is like an ADD version of Dawson’s Creek.. Jason tasks their friend Hud to record the event on video, and we follow the story through the lens of his camcorder.. The movie puts us in the center of the party; this is the part where being a fly on the wall has very little in the way of perks.. Rob has a fight with his girlfriend.. She leaves the party with someone else.. But just when you think the movie is drowning in a sea of its retarded narcissism, life as these partygoers knows it comes to a thunderous end.. The monster could not have gotten here soon enough.. The power goes out after a huge blasting shockwave of sound.. The power comes back on and the television news comes back on. It seems that an oil tanker as capsized in the harbor near the Statue of Liberty.. The partygoers rush up to the rooftop.. We see a huge fireball explosion in the center of Manhattan.. All bets are off!

At this point of the film, the chaos and confusion of 9 / 11 comes into full play.. This movie plays on the fear of that day and does it quite well.. As our band of partygoers exits onto the streets - all hell has broken loose.. People are running, buildings are collapsing, dust and debris are everywhere and yes, we see something big and monstrous making its way from though the city.. We see everything from Hud’s point of view.. Hud has a frat boy mentality and he has knack for saying some pretty stupid things, but he is the viewfinder.. We are seeing everything through his eyes.. People have no idea what they have seen.. One of the pieces of debris is the Statue of Liberty’s head as it comes crashing down on the street.. It is a true holy shit moment - a nice wink to Planet of The Apes and Escape From New York.. The goal should be to get out of the city, but Rob cannot do this.. He gets a panicked phone call from Beth ( Odette Yustman ), his girlfriend, who is trapped in her damaged building.. He decides to turn back to save his on - off girlfriend who is still in the heart of all this insanity.. He wants to make things right.. You would have to be insane to go back in that direction.. The scene of the evacuations out of the city is intense.. The scene of the crowds crossing the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most chilling in the film.. It plays on our fears very well..

The trek back through Manhattan brings them into close contact with the thing that is threatening the city, as well as the soldiers who respond to stop it.. The characters find that that biggest threat isn’t necessarily the most dangerous one.. This plot makes Cloverfield less like Godzilla or King Kong and more like a war movie, where instead of dealing with the monster head on, a small group of civilians tries to make it from one end of the battlefield to the other without getting caught in the crossfire.. The theme of ‘ you came back for me ‘ is central to the characters’ story.. The romantic subplot is Cloverfield’s only real downer, it’s contrived - sometimes annoyingly so - but it drives the story and has a poignant pay - off..

I do not recognize most of the young actors in the movie and this works to the movie’s advantage.. The cast of Cloverfield is made up of mostly unknowns; Stahl - David appeared in last year’s half season of the TV drama The Black Donnellys, Miller is part of the current season of Carpoolers and Vogel, Lucas, and Yustman have had supporting movie roles.. Lizzy Caplan, who played the sharp - tongued Kat on last season’s canceled sitcom The Class also stars here but has less to say..

Audiences will recognize more the film’s production team, by their resumes if not their names.. Producer J.J. Abrams, who created the TV series Felicity, Alias, and Lost, had Alias writer Drew Goddard write the movie’s screenplay and had Felicity writer Matt Reeves direct.. Abrams has an interesting filmography behind him, having written the character dramas Regarding Henry and Forever Young as well as the action films Armageddon and Mission: Impossible III.. Watchers of his suspense series Lost will be familiar with the way he teases audiences when it comes to revealing his monsters.. Also apparent is a running theme of separated lovers in his stories, and that theme is at the heart of Cloverfield..

So, what is Cloverfield? It is a monster movie for the post - 9 / 11 era.. Cloverfield would not be as eerie or as effective without that context.. The horrific day haunts the whole film.. If I lived in New York City, I am not sure I could watch this film all the way.. The movie has a couple of sequences that work all too well - there are several money shots that work very well.. Things go very bad very quickly in a situation visually similar to what New Yorkers near Wall Street experienced on the September 11th 2001.. After 9 / 11, it is no longer awe, but a new level of fear that unites us in the darkness.. We are along for a very chilling ride in Cloverfield.. It does remind us of that horrible day when we were all united in front of television screens.. Cloverfield would not work as well without that context..

Abrams has said that one of his motivations behind the film was to provide a safe fear.. That is, the fear of something that cannot exist at a time when many of us are living in great fear.. There will be countless parallels drawn between this film and the events of September 11th .. There are even eerily familiar scenes of the billowing clouds of dust that blew as the Towers crumbled.. But rather than providing an allegory for a moment in history, Abrams has largely achieved his aim.. Cloverfield gives its audience a way of relating to its nightmares behind the guise of a high - action genre flick.. It is one thing to sit on the edge of your seat in a cinema and feel like a potential monster snack, but when you let your mind wander to who you would want to call when the first rumble hit your city, or how you would react on a street teeming with fear and dust clouds and frantic people, that is when a colder fear sinks in..

Last summer audiences were caught unaware by a brilliant teaser.. The footage started calmly, featuring actors of no apparent fame in a typical party setting.. But it soon turned into a thriller as something was attacking New York City, and whatever it was, it was big.. Producer J.J. Abrams smartly denied even the movie’s title which just enticed audiences further into seeking the answer to the burning question: ” What is it?” Well 1-18-08 is finally here, and audiences can now decide if the monster lives up to the hype..

Cloverfield was without a doubt the most hyped up movie in years, but when this is done the movie viewers expectations are raised and that means it has to deliver even more..

It wouldn’t be too much of a spoiler for me to summarize the plot of Cloverfield as: monster attacks city, humans run for their lives.. Naturally with any movie in this genre, we’ll be introduced to a group of friends who will.. - Well, I don’t need to spell it out, and unfortunately the filmmakers give away the ending in the opening credits when it becomes clear that we are viewing events after the fact via found footage, just as The Blair Witch was presented.. It is interesting though how the importance of the opening footage sinks in as the movie progresses as insight into the minds of the characters..

The conceit of Cloverfield is that it’s been shot on Rob’s handheld camera, Blair Witch Project - style.. This viewpoint can nauseate anyone close to the screen especially early on, making you want to reach in through the screen and throttle Hud until he holds the camera steady.. The ” handicam ” look heightens the claustrophobic terror and realism, giving audiences an insight into what it might be like to experience an event of this scale..

While it shakes enough to cause one motion sickness, it absolutely conveys the situation and reflects our world.. To have a steady cam or large crane shots would take away from the atmosphere, to be honest.. The film reflects our society and how it would handle something like a monster attacking; people taking pictures with cell phones, videotaping everything, looting, etc.. We see everything and have no more information than the people we follow; it allows for a much cleaner experience because we don’t know what’s going to happen..

While the hand - held shooting style can be a little dizzying for the first few minutes, most audience members should soon adapt.. But if you found the Blair Witch Project an exercise in nausea, be warned; Cloverfield ups the ante in the shaky - cam stakes.. Yet the cinematography is artfully done.. Long, jerking one shots draw the audience into the confusion, our gaze always a second too late to see the action.. Of course, this construction of amateur documentation is hardly alien to current media consumers.. We watch events unfold through a similar lens almost daily online.. We are a society of documenters and Cloverfield never lets us forget it.. There is one moment in the film when the audience’s view of a destruction aftershock is somewhat obscured by members of the crowd capturing the moment on their cell phones.. This is a sight that is strangely familiar which is alarming given the circumstances..

I’m sure a few of you have already read movie critics ripping the film’s handicam eye as a one - note novelty and other critics who have labeled the result a ” mess..” But unlike its distant cousin The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield uses this creative decision to say something about how we absorb information today via our senses and new media, and the anxiety that this hodgepodge of 30 - second clips, fuzzy footage and bad lighting is starting to bring out..

One of my favorite scenes takes place inside a store that’s being looted.. Our camera operator and affable navigator, Hud, focuses his video camera and attention on two television screens broadcasting news footage of the monster attacking.. But he breaks away to look outside the store where the same thing is happening.. We’re overloaded with experiencing this monster’s terror and the film makes us ask ourselves: would we rather watch panic - personified clearly, or experience it as reality? Why did we come to this movie, to study the monster or to have it make us feel impossibly small? When your brain already has one foot in the grave, you’re happy when Hud decides for you..

And Hud’s instincts allow us to view what’s happening from the ground level, bird’s eye and countless other innovative angles that terrify in a way that Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds did not.. We’re constantly comparing the mayhem we see done to Manhattan to what’ happened before it in reality, and the latter shockingly doesn’t compare.. Moreover, not only does it feel like we’re in the pack with these people running around New York City, but the handicam effect creates a sense of loneliness and existential dread that cities are notorious for.. This isn’t filmed like it’s the work of a makeshift TV news crew or like a low budget documentary.. Cloverfield is filtered through the weird detachment that only a personal video cam can pick up..

Anytime one looks at man’s reaction to disaster, man made or natural, cinematically the choice has always been to look at those in charge of dealing with the crisis.. Monster movies and disaster movies in particular have always focused on Presidents and other leadership - types; how one deals with a crisis says a lot about one’s ability to be a leader.. But the one thing rarely explored is how the common person in the middle of it all.. Hence, Cloverfield..

By focusing on the human element aspect of the genre, we are thrown into the action when everything goes down.. You want to know what it feels like to be that woman cradling her young children in the original Gojira or dazed and scared as the running crowds like in either version of War Of The Worlds; this movie puts you in the middle of that experience.. Reeves accomplishes what John McTiernan claimed he wanted to do in Predator - put you in the middle of action.. Reeves does this with incredible ease.. Speaking of War Of The Worlds, this movie does an excellent job of creating a level of panic just as Steven Spielberg did with his remake in 2005.. I find the first half of that film to be as scary as they come.. Spielberg’s version captured the fear very well, just as Frank Darabont did in The Mist last year..

Reeves captures the human experience, during an event like this, perfectly.. Fear, paranoia and the gamut of emotions during the experience.. Once the film gets going, from a party atmosphere to absolute fear, he absolutely masters the art of maintaining his foot on the pedal of atmosphere.. For the film’s last hour he keeps the mood engaging and terrifying.. Credit Reeves as well for developing his monster well.. Using the Jaws type of monster development, keeping it in the shadows and only for glimpses at a time only adds to the terror.. For large portions of the movie we have no idea what’s happening and why it’s happening.. It would spoil the experience to have more information and ruin a bit of the atmosphere as well.. It’s a great way to tip the genre on its head and reinvent it in a way..

What really surprised me about Cloverfield was the story.. Yes, there is a story.. It’s one that involves people that you actually care about.. It’s a real story that you can connect with.. This is extremely important because you actually become one of them.. That’s right, sitting in the audience you actually become one of the main characters..

The best character in the film is a guy named Hud Platt ( Played by T.J. Miller ).. He is our eyes and ears in the movie as he carries around the camera.. Seeing through his eyes is how we experience everything.. I suddenly felt sucked into the film and could see myself reacting and even saying the things that Hud said.. He says the things that all of us in the audience are thinking.. Those times when they are going into the dark corridor are obviously stupid, so Hud speaks up.. When one of the characters is having a contemplative moment while people are dying all around him, Hud speaks up.. I know I’ve connected with a character on a much deeper level then Hud, but never have I connected with one so quickly..

Cloverfield’s first 20 minutes revel in setting up its five main human characters.. And to counter a few criticisms arising online, I don’t think we’re supposed to identify with them before the monster rampages, so much as observe them with a little annoyance, a little jealously, and a dash of commonality.. This is the cream of the crop as far as privileged, extremely attractive New York yuppie hipsters go.. Matt Reeves has said in interviews that he purposely chose to focus on this demographic, and it’s easy to see why.. Besides a little heart ache, what do these characters have to worry about? Only by shaking them, literally, from the loft party where they dance to Coconut Records, flirt and mope will they discover how volatile and messed up life can be.. There’s no blame here, and the movie’s not a diatribe against such people in real life, but the filmmakers definitely have fun exploiting it from the start..

Well, if it is monster you want, then you will not be disappointed.. There is plenty of monster to see.. The amount and ways you see it reminds me a lot of Alien.. You don’t see the Alien for the first half of the film, but in the second half you get a few glimpses and finally a few clear shots of it at the end.. As much as I think I would like to see a monster tearing up a city in broad daylight, I know that that would be a horrible idea.. Once you get a solid picture of what it is that’s so terrifying, it starts to lose its wonder and amazement.. Most of the fear that is created is in the inability to fully know or understand what it is that is attacking.. At first we only see it in baffling, frustrating, horrifying glimpses, but by the end we get a satisfyingly good look at it and the unexpected methods it has of killing New Yorkers ( One in particular is especially gruesome )..

It’s unlike any movie monster I’ve ever seen before.. A very cool and unique design, and I think you’ll be pleased.. The sound design is incredible, I seriously wouldn’t be shocked if this got nominated for some sound related awards, possibly an Oscar..

I am not going to even attempt to describe the monster.. Maybe it’s is Lucifer at his worst.. We have seen variations of him in many films.. Let me put it this way, Ray Harryhausen will be very proud of what is wreaking havoc in New York City.. The monster and his parasites work very well for several reasons.. Sound is the most important aspect of the movie.. The sound of things being destroyed, screams, noises in the dark, the monster’s roar and just about every noise create a successful thrill ride.. Sound is key to this film and also the lack of any music score.. There is no soundtrack to the film.. I thought at first I would not like this, but it works to the film’s overall success.. I am so used to Max Steiner or Akira Ifukube pulsating in the background - I take it for granted.. Cloverfield does not need any background music.. It would have helped for the American remake of Godzilla directed by Roland Emmerich back in 1998.. Cloverfield is a far superior experience to that heinous remake.. The absence of music gives the movie the terror factor it is looking to achieve..

Perhaps the greatest thing about Cloverfield as a whole is that it runs a sparse 80 minutes.. In an age where every filmmaker thinks he needs to be Peter Jackson and make four hour movies, it’s refreshing to see a genre film that comes in, hits you hard, then sends you on your way.. The film has a story to tell, and it tells it in a fashion that never flags from the beginning until the end credits roll.. Again, the decision is a sound one - the film is more intense with its short running time because there are no wasted moments.. Set - pieces come fast and furious and the audience rarely has a chance to catch their breath as one problem is solved just as another takes center stage.. That’s good filmmaking - hopefully more production people will emulate it..

As for the action, the visual effects are impressive.. It’s a thrill seeing skyscrapers being shredded by an unstoppable force.. And console gamers might even see some similarity with shooter games like Halo 3… Ultimately Cloverfield is a decent but typical genre film, competently produced, if distractingly presented.. If you find it sold out in theaters, head to your video store and rent the similar Korean monster movie The Host, released this time last year.. Together these two films would make a good double - header..

Made for only $30 million, this low - budget film is more captivating, more visually gripping than most blockbusters with budgets five, six, even ten times that.. Leaving the theater after Tuesday night’s screening, I found myself wondering what the hell the studios spent all those millions on to make lukewarm ” blockbuster ” movies when such a jaw - dropping awesome job can be done with so little financial backing.. Granted, there are no big - name actors demanding $20 million paychecks, but it certainly doesn’t look like any budget cuts were made in creating the monster or in the destruction of New York City..

Drew Goddard, producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves have created an undeniable classic that will not be forgotten like so many monster movies before it.. It is a truly refreshing approach and a rewarding film experience, to say the least.. Gripping to the final frame, Cloverfield is an experience that redefines the standards of what monster movies should be.. The experiment is ingenious.. The results, though, can be frustrating because Reeves stays commendably focused on his goal.. Where other filmmakers might have been tempted to cut away from the leads and sneak full - fledged peeks at the creature, Reeves commits to his premise and finds fresh ways to draw familiar conceits ( Hysterical crowds, massive explosions, a requisite military presence ) into his story.. The filmmakers wisely avoid showing you everything, instead showing only bits and hints of what’s going on, a technique that really fuels fear in a viewer..

Cloverfield isn’t perfect, and nitpickers will find enough to, well, pick.. The film’s narrow - minded approach leaves numerous questions regarding the monster unanswered.. Where did it come from? What happens if you get bit by the creature ( Or one of its offspring )? Goddard also attaches too many false endings to the story.. Cloverfield is one tight ending shy of being a modern monster masterpiece..

Monster movies aren’t generally known to be wildly intelligent, but Cloverfield is smarter than the genre usually allows.. Cloverfield is the most intense and original creature feature I’ve seen in my adult moviegoing life, and that’s coming from a guy who knows his Gojira from his Gamera and his Harryhausen from his Honda.. Cloverfield isn’t a horror film - it’s a pure - blood, grade A, exultantly exhilarating monster movie..

The last year has been a good year for the revival of the monster movie genre.. The Mist and The Host are damn near classics in my book of this genre going back to its roots - using the films as metaphors for fear and environmental concerns.. Cloverfield is effective because of its geography.. New York City gets a raw deal in this film, I Am Legend and The Day After Tomorrow.. In each version of King Kong, Escape From New York, the first two Planet Of the Apes, Independence Day, Deep Impact, Meteor and countless others, New York City is ravaged and beaten..

I believe this film from J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves has defined the first decade of the Oughts in a way that no war movie or film like Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center will surpass.. Our current times have been declared by much of the American press to be the Age of Anxiety, and Cloverfield nails that label to the wall.. The subconscious fears we all have deep down are served up here with relentless, dizzying verve.. Imagine if Jaws pulled you down not once, but countless times and your friends too.. Anticipating the worst has never been so exhaustively captivating and Cloverfield depicts the worst nightmares of an entire generation perfectly..

Cloverfield stands out in the genre as enabling its audience to suspend disbelief.. The veiling of the threat is exceptional and one of the chief reasons the film is such a gripping feast.. Glimpses are not met with laughter, which is an achievement when you’re showing the tail - end of a monster that makes the Statue of Liberty look minute.. In fact, all of the laughter happens in the ‘ right ‘ places - during the moments of light - relief rest stops..

Cloverfield is an intelligent take on the genre.. But the question must be asked - how clever do we want this genre to be? At times, Cloverfield almost feels a little bit too clever for its own good.. All the devices that are used to draw the audience into the action, though pretty effective, are obvious.. In fact, some of these devices are so apparent that they could prevent more discerning viewers from being totally absorbed into what is still a rollickingly fun destruction - fest.. Cloverfield will grab you in its jaws, toss you around like a chew toy for a rollicking 80 minutes and still leave you panting for more. However, this is not some dumb action flick.. Don’t expect to forget this film the moment you walk out of the cinema.. It’s not that sort of movie..

The obscured threat, combined with hand - held, first person point - of - view cinema - verite styling goes a long way in creating the claustrophobic tension.. This film will make you experience life at the bottom of the food chain; a disconcerting and adrenelin-pumping place to be..

Cloverfield remains an ambitious if ultimately flawed film that takes more risks and tries to do more than any film in recent memory.. It may be the first really good film of the year, if only by default, but if the rest of the year can keep up 2008 may end up having some promise cinematically after all..

It’s not often that a movie offers such a visceral experience, but Cloverfield does exactly that - you’ll leave the cinema half - expecting to see a screaming monster on the horizon, bearing down on you at a horrifying speed..

I give Cloverfield 4.5 out of 5..

Cloverfield is more of an experience than a cinematic adventure..