Well here we are, the mysterious J.J. Abram's "Cloverfield" has been released and after my viewing I must say that all the build up and anticipation in my opinion paid off fairly well. What we got was an exciting and original fast paced monster movie with laughs, thrills, chills and more. Unfortunately it would seem that the general feeling with the audience I saw it with, was one of disappointment. Their loss I suppose, here's some points I found worth mentioning.
Camera Work - It was pretty surprising to me that the theaters actually had motion sickness warnings outside and even so that a lot of people say it made them sick. I can't really understand that, what's everyone whining about? I could've eaten a deep dish pizza while watching this, it's just like watching stuff on Youtube but with better image quality. Yeah I'll admit that it was overly shaky at times, but cut the characters some slack. They're gonna have to bend reality little bit to make you believe that someone would hold on to a camera that long in this situation anyways. It's just a movie not a tobagan ride.
Characters/Acting - Going into this I was afraid the acting would be more likely poor or melodramatic but it was fine. The people for the most part seemed to act realistically, as people would if this were to really happen. Rob's whole attempt at risking his life to save the girl he likes, I think was justified enough seeing some of problems he faced earlier on. Our main cameraman "Hud" was easily the best character, slow witted but likable and a nice touch of comic relief. I felt bad for some of the deaths, but I guess it would be surprising for anyone to survive in that kind of dangerous environment.
The Effects - Now some of Cloverfield's CGI was pretty impressive. The enormous monster rampaging the city was a sight to be seen, and let us not forget the eye popping destruction of New York CIty. Everyone kept saying things like "Oh it's too soon seeing New York destroyed like that, the images just remind people of 911." But c'mon what were they supposed to do? If you're gonna do a giant monster movie, then you're gonna need to put iy into a huge urban environment, and naturally New York is just best suited for that.
The Story - Something fun about "Cloverfield" is that were just as clueless as the characters as to what's really going on. I find it to often that we get movies with scientists giving a big explanation of how it came to be or whatever, but I kind of liked it being kept a mystery. it almost makes it more scary and unsettling. The starting of the film with Rob was surprisingly entertaining as well, I kind of liked these characters and was genuinely interested in who they were. That's what drove the movie.
Other - Hey, how about that sweet Godzilla esq. theme at the end? Pretty epic, I looked it up and was pretty surprised that the composer "Michael Giacchino" was as well the same composer for "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles" not too shabby.
In conclusion, I think Cloverfield basically accomplished everything that a giant monster movie should. Sure it was a little short and kind of left us with a lot of questions, but it was different and I really enjoyed the whole concept.
Good for you Cloverfield....
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