Review of Cloverfield (2008) by Charlottep — 12 Apr 2011

Given that I watched this in less-than-perfect conditions on the plane through piss-poor headphones, the seat in front reclined right in my face, a tiny screen, screaming babies ago-go, and a fat American man snoring loudly next to me, it was surprisingly engaging.

The word "steadi-cam" did pop into my head a few times - the street scenes particularly were suspiciously cleanly shot - there were a few unlikely escapes (but wait - I thought she was near death with a girder sticking out of her chest?), and of course the monster was ridiculous even in broad half-seen brushstrokes; but there was a sense of fear and panic in the film that must have been rather difficult to manufacture, and I thought it quite convincingly captured the sheer panic, helplessness and chaos of an uncontrollable disaster situation.