Tadd Mencer

Description: “Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal horrifying event of their lives.”

Carolyn and I rented Cloverfield Tuesday (April 22nd). I was prepared for it to royally stink, due to many bad reviews and a lot of people just trashing the film. So, sitting down I was ready.

I was also ready for Blair Witch Project style camera movements. Basically, I was ready for it to be extremely low budget, never seeing any creature (except blurry Bigfoot style shots) and really being bored.

For the first twenty minutes it built characters. You saw who was going to be main characters, who was who and what people felt. My first down in this is that they didn’t make it very .. believable. I mean, if this was a MOVIE movie it would have been fine. The scripted lines and such would have been no big deal. However, some of the things said, reactions and so on where much less .. candid .. then it would be if it was something really happening. Particularly Lilly, who wasn’t a bad actress per say, I just had a hard time not seeing her as an actress.

Now, you DO get to see the monster. And it’s not a cheesy, blurry sasquatch looking photos. At first .. yes, all you see if quick shots of a tail, the back … nothing concrete. However, that changes as time goes and you do get a full view of the beast and the little critters that fall from it. You hear me right .. fall from it.

Another down was that nothing is ever explained. We don’t know WHAT it really is (government experiment, nuclear mishap, alien, natural, politician) and really we don’t know what happens in the end as the ‘tape’ ends before there is resolve. One can ASSUME that the monster is killed and all is well.

One highlight for me is the ‘camera man’ who’s name is Hudson ‘Hud’ Platt. The dude says some nutty things and I think (other than the fact that he does get slightly obnoxious) he would probably be someone I’d befriend.

Overall Cloverfield was a good movie. I really did enjoy it - and would even consider owning it if I saw it cheaply (like .. $5).

It was worth the $2.80 for the rental (and $.70 for the popcorn!). It’s not scary, though there is some gore to it and a few suspenseful moments (with some humor from Hud).