4 of 45

Write now Article Tools

Cloverfield is more than a movie; it is an experience that will leave you completely and utterly exhausted. A poignant blend of post 9/11 terror and our cultural obsessions with mass media and technology, Cloverfield is a giant monster movie with something to say, featuring a vantage point the likes of which audiences have never seen before. In fact Cloverfield is likely the best movie that you'll never want to watch again.

Kept under wraps for more than half a year, the J.J Abrams produced Cloverfield has teased audiences with an impressive marketing campaign, which used striking imagery of a tattered and ruined Manhattan to elicit curiosity and excitement. Cloverfield reviews a ninety minute, mini-DV tape that was discovered after the horrific event. The footage follows four friends as they desperately search to find a missing companion, putting them dangerously close to an unstoppable creature of monstrous proportions.

Part of the impact that Cloverfield achieves is due to the clever marketing which kept the experience hidden, fresh and alive. The trailers and clips only showed enough to whet audience's palates, leaving the majority of the film to be experienced in a darkened theater, and without a doubt this is a movie that must be seen in a cinema.

However audiences need to be forewarned. While many will likely compare the camerawork in Cloverfield to the 1999 horror smash, The Blair Witch Project, this statement will only minutely prepare you for what you will see in this long awaited, giant monster flick. While the camera work is indeed handheld, there are two striking differences Cloverfield and the aforementioned horror film.

In the Blair Witch Project filmmakers used the "shaky-cam" style to make the most out of their extremely limited budget. In Cloverfield director Matt Reeves had an epic scale to work with, and because of that, audiences will want to focus on the details on screen. The imagery is indeed striking; the creature leaves Manhattan utterly obliterated. The camera moves without edits through 360 degree sets, making the experience visceral and immediate. As a culture we have been trained by Hollywood to let our eyes focus on the details, here they are given to us and then instantly pulled away. This drastic and uncomfortable change to the phenomena of the persistence of vision will leave some audiences frustrated and others entirely motion sick.

The pace of the movie also moves far more frantically than The Blair Witch Project. Reeves gives

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Movie reviews: Cloverfield?
We want to hear your view. Write now!