Review: Cloverfield

Well, although the title is fairly retarded, (I'll explain it later) I hate to say that I enjoyed JJ Abrams' "Cloverfield"

I've heard from my friends that it was a cheap knock-off of the Blair Witch Project, so I went into the movie feeling skeptical. This was not the case; the only similarity was in the style of first person shooting. That style may have been premiered in the Blair Witch Project, but that doesn't make it exclusive.

Another interesting thing about Cloverfield was its lack of reason. Which makes perfect sense. If you were an innocent bystander who happened to be holding a camera when a monster attacks New York, you won't exactly have CIA intel on why the thing was there. That made it all the freakier for me.

The effects were great. Even with the shaky camera, it wasn't difficult at all to tell what was happening. The monster was fantastically animated and realistic, as was its surrounding environment. Even the dramatic falling of the statue of liberty's head seemed plausible.

My only complaint was the sound. I know that it was supposed to be sort of camcorder-crummy, and the sound effects were not. But some of the dialogue was incomprehensible and I had to even skip behind a few times.

One last kudo was the 'original tape' effect. See the film to know what that is. It at least gives the viewer a bit of time to breathe and catch up. Plus, the very last scene, on the ferris wheel, has some important information while it shows the ocean. Keep an eye out.

4/5 stars
(Cloverfield is the title because the producers gave the monster the name 'Clover' and thus New York would be Clover's Field. Cloverfield.)