Cloverfield

It's an effective thriller - extremely well directed and staged - but it doesn't quite live up to the months of Internet hype. As a new way to tell an old, tired genre story, it excels. This is unlike any monster movie I've seen before, and unlike any other save for the similarly hyped Blair Witch Project. The two films share visual styles, but little else. Cloverfield has a bigger budget, working (but still unknown actors), and special effects that rival or surpass all other star-studded Hollywood blockbusters. There's also effective storytelling. It's streamlined, no information is superfluous even during the extended and meandering opening party scene. The party is our introduction to the cast of characters, and even with little background information or concrete reason to root for them, I found myself very invested in Rob's journey to his loved one in the heart of monster mischief and destruction. And the monster - after months of watching advertisements and trailers that showed no images of the thing (great idea), I was stoked to see the thing in action. A lot was riding on that thing. And...it was okay. It wasn't all that more horrifying than its monster genre brethren and not altogether new. I guess I just wasn't surprised when I saw it. Then again, it might have had to juggle skyscrapers and New York socialites while sporting a top hat. Still, there are scares. The little biting creatures are frightening. The acting may be the least authentic part of the movie that screams its own brand of authenticity, though it is oodles better than any average monster, slasher, horror, thriller in the canon. And this brand of authenticity requires a character to run throughout the movie with a handheld camera. It's completely believable. And at times annoying. It can be difficult to tell what is going on and can be headache inducing. But it's consistent and leads to several genuine moments such as when the night vision flares in the tunnel and Hud sees the monster up close from the helicopter and ground views. An interesting experiment that mostly succeeds.

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