Cloverfield, Manhattan

Manhattan, New York, May 22, horrors far beyond the events of 9/11 come alive.

Cloverfield (2008, monster/horror), tells a story of a group of young New Yorkers who throw a surprise party for a friend leaving for Japan and during the party tremors start to be felt, there are blackouts and suddenly a huge explosion takes place.

It doesn't have the fancy camera angles like you would expect in Spiderman but the film is shown as being shot by a hand held camera which is then later recovered by the American Military; it is stated at the start of the film that the footage was "found in US-447, area formerly known as Central Park". The point-of-view (POV) camera settings, which would generally work great for 'other' materials, does give the film a feel of being right there at the center of action. However, if you don't like shaky video or have trouble playing First Person Shooter (FPS) games like Quake 3, the film might end up giving you a headache.

The thing that makes you stick to the movie is the suspense about what actually is happening, which, however, isn't explained in detail. We know what causes the destruction but nothing about what it was or who created it.

The best scene has to be when the head of The Statue of Liberty comes crashing down on the street, simply awesome and vivid.

The film Jimmy and Judy also has the same POV style as Cloverfield.

Paramount Pictures had a very good viral marketing strategy for this film. The teasers before the release of the movie focused on developing this suspense and some even came without the titles!

Click to View Trailer

3 1/2 stars.