Cloverfield – Review
January 19, 2008
I had somewhat of a movie marathon tonight. I got dragged to see 27 Dresses unfortunately, and while it was a good movie for a chick flick, I still don’t think it merits a review.
Anyway, later tonight I saw Cloverfield. The entire thing was shot a la Blair Witch Project, meaning camcorder-like, shaky, uncut footage, sort of like a documentary. The whole thing is shown from start to finish as being played by the Department Of Defense and the title says that it’s recovered footage from “the area formerly known as “Central Park.”" The movie starts out at a going away party with a bunch of friends. Fear quickly sets in, though, when the power goes out and a huge earthquake-like shaking occurs. Curious of what’s going on, the friends venture outside to find explosions going off everywhere. Four of them venture back to rescue a trapped friend in her high-rise apartment building. Though she’s still clinging to life, they all end up dying anyway when the Army decides to nuke the entire city, the only thing that it seems will rid the city of what I can only describe as a “raptosaurus” creature that’s just kind of flailing around, munching on a few people here and there and generally whacking its tail into skyscrapers and making a mess.
This movie leaves much to be desired. First off, where the heck did this thing come from? In War Of The Worlds, at least you know the “things” were beamed down inside a bunch of lightning bolts. The movie ends when the city is nuked, and that’s it. Although it was really well-made for what it was, some background information or at least a scene or two after the tape ends would be useful. The movie doesn’t have enough credibility or content to merit a sequel, but needed some kind, in fact any kind, of ending.
Even though the story line was good, the theme is just so overused. A monster attacking New York City? Wow, that’s completely original. Since many of you are probably enticed to see this film because of your sheer curiosity about what the creature is, I’d say save your money, because it’s nothing revolutionary.
Overall Rating: 
I saw previews for this movie and they left me confused. I figured that they were just doing the thing where they make you wonder to get you into the theater and then clear it all up. Obviously not… I’ll probably download it to check it out but won’t waste money on it at the theater. Thanks for the review!
Thanks for the heads up.
Gotta agree with your review. It just didn’t live up to the hype. Godzilla meets Blair Witch.
I wrote a “less than excited” verdict about the movie on my blog too. I was one of the lucky people who got to sit in the front row, so the shaky camera thing left me queasy reallly fast. Despite not being thrilled about the movie, I’d love to see a sequel that explains what the heck was going on. 
But like you said, that would have been better to have at the end of the movie, somehow. Or maybe after the credits! That would’ve been cool.