Review of Cloverfield (2008) by Russell G — 02 Feb 2013

The gritty and shaky cinematography is the major achievement here. It is a fast moving thrill ride that feels surprisingly real for a monster movie. Matt Reeves' brilliantly combines jerky low-tech cameras with higher end special effects to make a truly original product.

It almost has the freighting panicky feel of the 9/11 attack. It really makes it feel like New York City is crumbling from a monstrous alien attack. The action almost makes up for the weak plot and characters, but not quite.

I admit the movie does the right thing and takes a decent chunk of time to establish this set of friends and sets the table well, but the problem is that these characters are annoying or boring and hard to invest in.

The acting is not entirely to blame for this, but it certainly does not help. It is full of surprises but the style and glitz do not make up for lack of substance. I appreciate not getting a perfect glimpse of the monster, but I would like a little more explanation through an emergency TV or radio broadcast to better understand what we are dealing with.

Without the camera work this is basically amount to a B grade Godzilla knock off. I love the intensity but the strong shortcomings unfortunately hold this movie back.