I saw this Cloverfield because it was produced by JJ Abrams of Alias and Lost fame. I also liked the trailers that gave nothing away. The thing I wanted to make sure was that we found out what was happening to the city. If it was a Lost plot it would probably take two seasons before we knew anything. If it was an earthquake I wanted to know, if it was Godzilla I wanted to see Godzilla. Based on reviews I knew we found out. I also knew to expect Blair Witch Project first person shaky camera and that some found it very annoying. So I really expected a Godzilla movie, which isn't my favorite genre, but from the point of view of screaming pedestrians getting stomped on and that I thought could be interesting. The 84 minute runtime also meant I could put up with anything for that long.
After the Fenway Theater got over their problems with their digital projector during the previews, Cloverfield started with various Defense Department labels about a film recovered from Central Park. We then see some earlier shots of a couple and then get into a going away party for Rob who's taking a job in Japan. A bunch of twenty-somethings are drinking in a loft in Manhattan that no twenty-something could afford but fair enough. Hud is filming, Jason is Rob's brother who's almost engaged to Lily. Rob apparently had a fling a couple of weeks ago with long time friend Beth who's there with a date. Marlena is there waiting for friends and Hud is hitting on her. For all the MTV Real World similarities, no Real World episode was ever this annoying. I hated these people 9 minutes in. It was really 9 minutes in, I checked my watch. I couldn't wait for some disaster to start killing them. It was 6 more torturous minutes before the building shook.
So then we follow the above named people as they evacuate the city and get info and sightings about what is going on. The effects are pretty good, though as someone said, it's easy to make good looking effects when the camerawork is a shaky digital mess. Honestly, Hud is worst person you've ever seen at framing a shot and the camera doesn't have image stabilization. It does have night vision but that's only used in one scene.
The film covers 8-10 hours so Hud turns the camera on and off. I was annoyed that the camera battery seemed to be infinite but then realized it really only filmed an hour and a half. This could have be a great gimmick to show only the good parts of the story; but it was just the opposite. In any action scene, Hud has to stop filming, put the camera down (with half the frame blocked by a rock) to help someone or film something while running and shaking so you can't see anything. Oddly he films many conversations with friends and I kept thinking if I was talking with him I'd be yelling at him to put the camera down. He also films long (and stupid) walks through pitch black subway tunnels (only halfway through does Rob show him the light and night vision features).
I was also bothered by a lot of stupid things in the film. They were good enough to show a cell phone battery dying, but then he runs into an electronic store being looted and finds a replacement battery in it's package. He opens it and miraculously it's fully charged. They show maps of New York and talk about the right places but the time it takes them to get to these places seems completely out of whack. Let me ask, if the lights flicker because the building (or block) is shaking and then go out for 30 seconds, would they then come back on (and I'm not talking about emergency lights). Oh and aircraft trying to escape, should turn away from the action, otherwise it's like escaping an oncoming train by running along the tracks. Oh yeah, deep wounds should bleed.
I probably liked it least of the group I saw it with, but the best praise I heard was "it's exactly what I expected". I didn't find it horrible but I did find it annoying. Someone suggested a sequel with the same story from the point of view of a soldier. I think I would have preferred the characters be trapped some place with a view.
If you see it, there's apparently something in the background of the last Coney Island shot. Some have speculated that shot is the real reason the army was interested in this amateur film.
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