Forget the fact that you really have little to no idea what the movie is about or that it’s all shot from a hand-held camera angle, Cloverfield from producer J.J. Abrahams and director Matt Reeves, is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. The only reason that you didn’t hear it summed up in our movies of the week post is that it deserved an entire article to itself. I went into this movie knowing nothing at all about the movie. On the ride to the theater, my buddy Jake told me all about the viral marketing he had been following and what info it gave him. To sum it up, there’s an oil rig owned by Tagruato Corporation off the coast of Connecticut that was “sabotaged” by protest group T.I.D.O. Wave. Some of the news report trailers show you that when the rig collapsed into the water, giant pieces of debris flew out of the ocean as survivors escaped. Hence sabotage in quotes. Cloverfield at heart is a mash-up of today’s culture being obsessed with capturing horrific events and the lack of a monster like Godzilla on US soil. Abrahams has admitted that his inspiration for this movie spawned when in a Japanese toy store with his son and saw row after row of Godzilla toys. Feeling the need to add a true monster rampaging New York, the Cloverfield concept began. Originally baring the codename of “Cloverfield“, the intended debut name of “Greyshot” was dropped as news spread throughout the internet, gaining popularity and steam behind the title Cloverfield. In regard to style, the entire movie is a review of footage shot from a hand-held video camera. You never see any other point of view but the camera the entire time.  As expected, just like Blair Witch Project, you’re going to experience a lot of up and down movement when the camera operator runs. This is something you become custom to very quickly and it honestly doesn’t happen as often as you’d expect.

The movie follows six individuals as they experience a gigantic monster attacking New York: Rob, Jason, Lilly, Hud, Beth, and Marlena. Rob (Michael Stahl-David)  is leaving for a new job in Japan so his brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend Lilly (Jessica Lucas) are throwing him a birthday party. Jason is the original camera operator but at the beginning of the party he passes it off to everyone’s mutual friend, Hud (T.J. Miller), who isn’t exactly a rocket scientist. Beth (Odette Yustman) is Rob’s complicated crush who unfortunately lives all the way across town. And Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), the girl Hud try’s to pick up regardless of what’s happening around them.

What you get from Cloverfield is a first person action and gore filled monster movie. Shortly into the beginning of the movie, the action kicks off. Thanks to the party scene  you hear every song that they wanted to included in the soundtrack before the first 15-20 minutes are finished. Without giving anything else away, the majority of the story involves our six potential monster snacks and their attempt to survive whatever it is that’s attacking the city. The feeling like your right there and that you don’t see everything omnisciently gives it a very suspenseful feeling. You only see what Hud points the camera at, but he sure points it at a lot. The humor in the movie is all stemmed from how dumb Hud is. Besides his obsession with carrying the camera, Hud really doesn’t have more than one good idea or comment, but what he says will make you chuckle in an otherwise deadly situation.

Where the movie lost it for me was with the monster. The less I saw of it, the more I wanted to see it. Every time you caught a glimpse of it, you’d have one more guess of what it really looked like, so as you see more of it you become disappointed. I honestly was convinced it was Cthulhu. The reason I titled this post Cloverfield: Your Girlfriend Won’t Like It, is because none of my friends could convince their girlfriend to see the movie, mostly due to the fact that none of us could describe it as more than a handheld camera monster movie. At the end of the movie however, all of us nodded in agreement that it was probably better for our girlfriends not to come. If you read any other reviews, they all seem to bash the budget and compare it to both “I Am Legend” and “Blair Witch Project”. I don’t really feel that they have enough similarities to compare them as you would “Batman Begins” and “Superman Returns” but apparently they do. I think the fact that they determine if the movie was good or not around how much it grossed proves that when you pay for your own ticket you appreciate it more. So like our girlfriends, these critics weren’t interested in seeing the movie and only cared about the money.

I enjoyed this movie so much that I will be seeing it again in theaters. There is so much that you can easily miss, but if your $10 is better spent elsewhere, just search around the web for more clues to help you better understand what you saw happening in the movie. The recreation of a method used by the Blair Witch Project and displaying the American Youtube obsession provided something completely new for me. Considering the movie had little to no filler and wasn’t very long, I feel that my money was better spent here then most of the other drawn out movies I have seen recently. I you haven’t seen the movie yet, go read up on the viral marketing material. If you have seen it and you didn’t stay for the credits or couldn’t understand it, you hear [it's still alive].

Cloverfield premiered Friday January 19th nationwide and within its first weekend has grossed approximately $41 million dollars, $11 million dollars over the reported budget of the movie. Considering the popularity already, Reeves has stated that if the their where to be a sequel, it would take place somewhere else in the city during the same events as the first. Personally, I look forward to the announcement.