Day 3, Review of the Movie "Cloverfield"

Well to start I will be discussing Cloverfield, and hence spoiling it for you if you have not seen it. This is your last chance to turn away before I tell you the ending also.
Ready?
on three
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Alright, I warned you. Everybody dies. There, spoiled, now on to the review.

Brief Summary: Cloverfield is a classic Godzilla movie with a couple interesting twists. It takes the Disney flavor out of the 1998 Godzilla movie starring Matthew Broderick, and ads in the Blair Witch uncontrollable horror aspect. This movie is shot entirely in a first person viewer documentary fashion, much like Blair Witch, and the camera movement can turn the sensitive stomache. The movie starts with a goodbye party for the main character who is leaveing his friends and moving to Japan for a job. Halfway through the party the Villian makes itself known in the form of a rarely seen insectlike Godzilla creature that has crawled out of the ocean to wreak havoc on New York city. The movie then putts along as the group of main charaters travel deeper into the city after getting a call for help from a friend, all the while the events are documented by our lovable and sarcastic cameraman. In the long and short they find thier freind and then everyone dies through one gruesome form or another.
Now the Pros:
Gore: This movie was surprisingly non-gory for a horror movie. Granted it has it's moments of surgical need but in no means do you stuble across some monster of a person field dressing a cat. It is rather tastful in this fashion and I for one appreciate a movie that will not rely on gore or the visual stomache turning to draw in crowds.

Computer Monsters: The main monster and his little insectile babies are actually done rather well in this film. The aspect of these creatures at any time is so spaced out, and half hidden in an effort to create the mystery aspect that it masks any real defects in the CGI and makes the creatures look prety decent. Additionally the whole shaky camera thing adds to the masking of any defects, making the monsters a fun an non-cartoonish aspect of the movie.

The Camera Shaky Thing: This, as I said before, can make the stomache turn, but it is done very well. It is not like some person is walking around and subtly filming everything, haha got you audience members style, it appears that it is being done by someone scared to pissing themselves on the run. Consequently you spend a lot of time looking at someones thiye as they run, but it gives the film some real quality that something like Blair Witch lacked in it's first person filming.

Plot: Really, in all honesty what are you expecting in a monster/Godzilla movie. Creature comes from the sea, army shows up, everyone running around. It's about as deep as it sounds, the monster doesn't have any alterior motive like in Godzilla 1998 where it was laying eggs, it just wants to level the city, and it does a damn fine job of it too.

Characters: The camera man is the only likable one. I'll get to the rest in con's. But he will last you through the movie all on his own. He puts me in mind of 'Sock' from the 2007 ABC hit "Reaper", and if you've seen the show, keep him in mind when watching the movie.

Alright, on to the Cons:
Acting: What acting? I am a BIG fan of using no name people in movies, people who are a fresh face, but my goodness these people were about as deep as a saucer of milk. This is due in part to the quality of the writing (none) and in part of the directing of the characters as to thier personal motivations (very little). For a reference, in the beginning a character dies. Thier fience' and thier Brother don't really seem to have any emotional reaction to this. They continue on as if nothing had happened and the brother/fience is quickly forgotten to everyone's satisfaction. Additionally, this movie has the big flaw of going towards the monster. This is a flaw many movies have, but usually is offset by, oh I don't know, being in the military, being a superhero, and generally not being a big loser, two scared shitless women and a saucy cameraman ready to widdle himself. The commitment to thier parts did not make this leap of faith remotely believable. Lastly, the "Love Scene" at the end, where the planes are flying in the nukes and the guy and girl are the only ones left was perhaps the worst sensitive moment scene I have ever witnessed. They actually threw in a crappy "I love you" line.... twice! I was agog. But needless to say, acting? I have seen better by my goldfish and he's dead.

Needless Violence: There are stupid instances of violence that do not add to the movie in any fashion. One of the main characters dies half way through the movie when a bite from a monster consequently causes her to EXPLODE. Yes, for no reason what so ever, she freaking explodes. Thank goodness it was tastefully done behind a curtain, but still, explode? What causes that? Do these things have a bite with the potency of ten thousand kidney beans? Sheesh. Another pointless violent scene was where they killed off the only character I liked, the cameraman. Somehow they are standing there and did not see nor hear a 700 ton monster come over and stand right above them. And then it eats the cameraman. Pointless. It was as if the writer thought "Ok, I can draw the audience in by killing someone, and it leaves the romantic couple alone for that wonderful I love you line I have planned. I am so smart *pat on back*" I would SLAP you! You killed the only character I liked, and it didn't matter! He would have been dead in 3 minutes when you killed the other people with the nuke. I give this scene my certificate of lame.

Overall Review Summary and Reccomendation:
I am on the fence about reccomending this movie, but I will say watch it. There is no acting, but its a monster movie and doesn't need it, and the monsters are good enough to make it interesting. Additionally the film is shot in a way that is fun and new and keeps you interested. All I can say is don't expect to walk away feeling satisfied. If I could give any real advice, walk out when everyone is getting into the helicoptors and assume they made it. They don't, but lets just pretend they do.