Cloverfield

I thought it was a beer commercial. You know the type. Party, rugged-looking guy with fun-looking friends, laughing and toasting with girls seeming to gravitate towards them as the camera pans round.

But I was wrong...

I've been waiting for Cloverfield, or "that JJ Abrams movie", for a long time now. Having just seen it, I don't quite know what to say.

Most people just call it "Blair Witch meets Godzilla", and I feel that that would be an unfair analogy. Sure, it's a monster/disaster flick caught in shaky hand-held camera angles, but it's different at the same time.

I've told a few people that I thought I Am Legend was a good film, but lacking something that would have made it great. I think this one falls under that category as well. It might be the weird plot holes (if that's what you want to call them) or simply the cinematography which left one of my friends with motion sickness, but I guess it's just the fact that it was alot of "Oh my God did you see that what is it we are all going to die I love you" and too little RRAAARRGGGHH.

Yeah.

I'm not a fan of movies that over-emphasize the action or thrill aspect of a story, but maybe this one took (the attempt at) character development too far. For a film that's under two hours (and I'm being kind), I felt the director spent too much time with the party, and not enough with the carnage.

I would say, however, that I'm not a fan of popcorn. How does that factor into anything at all? Well, I usually only bother getting myself a decently-sized beverage for my cinematographic pleasure, and Cloverfield is one of the rare few movies whereby I left the theatre without finishing the drink. Instead of me slowly (or quickly) sipping my Coke as the movie runs, there were more than a few periods throughout the film where it seemed altogether riveting.

Periods, yes. Unfortunately, those periods were punctuated by other periods of, well, times that didn't run too well. That, and the lack of "closure" that some might complain about after the movie and the afore-mentioned plot holes that can only be explained by stretched logic (and kinda ruins the wow-factor) leaves something to be desired.

Still, I wouldn't say that it sucked, just that I left the theatre with a thoughtful expression on my face.

A rating? That's probably the most difficult question I've been asked this year. I liked it and hated it. It's weird and different and unique and fresh and brave and surprising and provoking, in a good and bad way at the same time.

Hmm.