Cloverfield

This movie was hyped a lot for the last half a year or so. Lots of viral advertising, not unlike the next Batman film. I didn't really get into most of it, but I kind of wish I had. It would probably have given me a better idea of what was going on. This leads me to what is probably the biggest complaint (not necessarily mine) about this movie: it tells you almost nothing about what's going on.

I for one loved it partly for this fact alone. It's in the same vein as JJ Abrams' other opus, Lost. So much is left to speculation. The camera work itself is the biggest part of this, as usually it's not pointing at what you're hanging off the edge of the seat to see, instead focusing on the ground in front of the camera man as he walks over precarious ledges. The film often reminded me and my friends a lot of first person shooters for this reason; the first-person-perspective and environments, even some of the monsters, gave off a very Half-Life 2 feel. The only difference was that the guy behind the camera actually spoke, unlike Gordon Freeman.

Anyway, the advantage given by withholding so much from the viewer is the rapt attention that it results in (at least for me). You're straining to catch a glimpse of the monsters so much that you forget that they're just a bunch of computer generated vertex meshes.

Another complaint I've heard is that it's just 911 propaganda. I can see where this is coming from, as the opening scene of devastation was very similar to the footage I've seen of the September 11th attacks; huge dust clouds, collapsing buildings, and giant lizard-spider monsters decapitating the Statue of Liberty. GET OVER IT.

Those things aside, it was a great experience. I never saw the Blair Witch Project so I can't really compare the camera work to that, but I have no desire to anyway. I liked it. The acting was better than I thought it would be based on the previews. The monster was BAD-ASS. So were the zerglings, er... antlions... I mean, whatever the bleep those things were.

I just wish it had been Cthulu.

EDIT:

Oh yeah, any movie that includes music by Ratatat is automatically classic.