My Amazon Review Of Cloverfield

Here's my review of Cloverfield from Amazon.com. A few sentences may not make sense. That's because I'm referring to other reveiws or topics on Amazon.

Enjoy...

Perusing a number of reviews about this film, I've come to realize that a lot of people are giving it three or less stars because they felt that it was "overhyped." However, after watching "Cloverfield," I saw that it met my expectations as a somewhat experimental monster movie. J.J. Abrams merely planted the seed last year with that brief glimpse of footage from what we would learn to be as Hud's "documentary" on the last night that his friend, Rob, would be spending in Manhattan before heading off for Japan. It was the viewers of said clip who ran with it and created such a stir that a large portion of the population wanted to see this mysterious movie. That's what you call good advertising in my book. I praised "The Blair Witch Project" for doing the same thing a few years back even though that movie wasn't half as good as "Cloverfield." With that said, "Cloverfield" is just what it claims to be: a monster flick shown from the point of view of a lowly citizen running for his life from a danger he knows very little about. There is no great leader of the city to protect the people. There's no young scientist to find a solution to the very big problem. There's not even a cocksure military leader, just a couple of run-ins with soldiers almost as confused as the primary characters. Does it work? Yes. Are there flaws? Yes. That doesn't stop the viewer from enjoying the film, however. Director Matt Reeves utilizes noise, chaos, uncertainty and pitch black scenery to get into the viewer's head. On a number of occasions during the film, I caught myself trying to look around the corner of the camera in order to see what was happening. Viewing the situation through the lens of a digicam makes the viewer seem to be a "part" of the action, even though everybody was securely tucked in their seats, most likely stuffing there faces with popcorn (I know I was). Sure, one could argue that anybody with a little bit of common sense would drop the camera to help their friends, but then again, there wouldn't be much of a movie to watch, would there? Characters such as the goofy Hud (T.J. Miller), Lily (Jessica Lucas), and Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), draw genuine sympathy from the crowd as we learn just enough about them to care for them. Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is likeable, but comes across as a bit selfish when the others are in danger. Jason Vogel (Hawk) and Odette Yustman (Beth) are excellent in their roles, but aren't part of the primary group as long as the rest of the characters (don't let that revelation make you sure of their demise, either). Abrams also throws in a couple of twists on the traditional monster movie that weren't touched on in the film's trailers. When you see them, you'll realize that there's even more to this film than one would think. Overall, "Cloverfield" does deliver on its hype and stealthy ad campaign. I wonder if some of those who are upset with the film are really upset with themselves for getting pumped up over a movie that never truly revealed enough details before its release to give the viewer any specific expectations. As stated before, this movie is nothing more than it proclaimed to be in the months prior to its release. I highly recommend it to fans of monster movies, sci-fi flicks in general, and those who like to see a "what if" scenario come to fruition.