Cloverfield: Review By 5_LD_5

Going into Cloverfield, I knew I was in for a major ride. After months of anticipation it would all be revealed in a mere 80 minutes. I did my best to remember everything that I could from this movie, so I could give you my honest review of Cloverfield. I will write my review in bullet form about what I thought were the main parts of the movie.

***Spoilers Start Here***

The First Twenty Minutes - The beginning of the movie had nothing to do with the monster. This time was all about Rob and Beth's relationship and setting up for Rob's going away party. At the party Hud is videotaping the party so Rob can take it with him while he was gone. Basically what happens here is Hud taps people while they wish Rob his best. This was very important. Although many reviews have stated that this first part of the movie was pointless and they should have just got on with the monster, I felt this part was very necessary and needed to be there. With this part we got to know the characters and get enough background to feel for them. Without this we would be watching a movie where some people would be running from a monster and we could care less about them.

The Statue of Liberty - For some reason I thought it would play a bigger part but it didn't. It was in the movie twice, once when we saw it' head fly down the street and the other was when Hud pointed the camera at the body for one scene. It was very cool to see the Statue with out a head like that.

The Characters/The Acting - I felt that the characters were great, though there were really only 5 main ones. The acting wasn't great but it was good. It's the dialogue. When they are running and things like that they are great but while they are speaking and having their 'break' times they are just, well, only good. The acting and dialogue could have been better. Marlena is perfect in every way though...

The Story - I felt the story was very strong actually. It was a lot of running, climbing, take a couple minute break and get right into the action again. I thought that worked very well.

The Special Effects - The very first special effect you see in the movie doesn't look very good. The rest of them however look amazing.

The Way it Was Filmed - I think the way it was filmed with only a camcorder was great. A lot of people have gotten sick and I can understand that. Personally I did not get sick. I honestly feel that this made the movie. I did not necessarily make it better but it made it different and made it special. It's a lot like Blair Witch but Cloverfield did it right. Some people complain that Hud was horrible at filming but I feel they really wanted to give it a real effect. If you were going through what they went through you would not be recording it perfect either.

Wait, This Feels Familiar - I'll just say it, the movie was The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla. Also during the movie you feel like you have seen some of this before. I personally was able to look past that but some parts of the movie reminded me of Blair Witch, War of the Worlds, The events on 9/11 and Godzilla.

The Intensity - If you thought the trailer was intense just wait until you see the full movie. This is probably the most intense movie I have seen. Some of these parts are just spectacular. I can think of three parts at the top of my head. I will not give them away.

The Monster/The Mini Monsters - Well what can I say, the monster was a giant monster. It is something you have never seen before. It is hard to explain. Since we have never seen anything like it it's very hard to say what it looks like. Honestly the movie is not about the monster though. It is about the characters and what they had to go through. The monster was great, very different and scary. The mini-monsters are exactly like the mini-monsters in the PS3 game Resistance. They are just bigger and have more legs. They were freaky.

The Name, Cloverfield - It has nothing to do with the movie. I found out later that they called it Cloverfield because they did not want to change the code name. And of course it is the name of the street where J.J's office is.

Explanation? - Since this was told only by the people, there was no reason behind why the monster was there, how it got there, what it was, what its name was and what happened to it. It would be nice to have all of this explained on the DVD or something but actually, there was nothing wrong with this. This was told by the people's point of view and the people did not know the answers to those questions. You just have to think past that and just enjoy it.

The Ending - This movie was very short. You will not hear me say this much but it ended at the right time. It was just simply time for it to end. Without giving it away, it was a cliffhanger ending.

After the Credits - At the very end of the credits something happened. I'm not going to spoil it but I'll just say you will not understand it. It's not a lot but what it reveals is big information. You're going to have to do some research to understand what it is exactly but if you did not understand it or if you did not stay to the end PM me and I will tell you.

Sequel - I think there will be a sequel eventually. It's possible especially after the end of the credits but I'll just keep my mouth shut. The director Matt Reeves has stated that if they were to do a sequel he would like to have it about another group's story in the same monster attack, in other words a different point of view. I would like to see something like a point of view of the military. If they where to do that they could show a new story and they could answer a lot of questions such as where this thing came from.

***Spoilers End Here***

At the end of the day did I like this movie? Absolutely yes! Would I recommend it? Absolutely yes! This has got to be one of my favourite movies ever; yes I loved it that much. I know a lot of people hated it but I looked passed the no explanation and shaky camera and saw and amazingly entertaining movie.