Anyone who hated the camerawork of "The Blair Witch Project" can go ahead and sit this one out.
"Cloverfield" takes the cinematic concept of horror from the characters' perspective and applies it to the monster-movie genre. The camera jerks around constantly, as the character filming the action is constantly running, falling, climbing stairs, fending off smaller monsters and generally having a bad day.
If the viewer can ignore the camerawork, or better yet, actually appreciate it, he or she is in for quite a treat. A couple of things make "Cloverfield" work.
First, the setting. There are few cities in the world better suited for a giant monster attack than New York. As in "Godzilla," "King Kong" and the host of imitations that have followed, the skyline of New York gives the monster a place to hide - even better, it gives a 40-story monster a place to sneak up on the characters.
The subways provide relatively safe routes on which to travel, and the island nature of Manhattan prevents the would-be hero and his band from escaping to safety. Only two or three other cities in the world could be used for this movie. Hong Kong especially comes to mind, as does Tokyo. Beyond that, and the idea of the 40-story monster doesn't really work.
The second element of this film that really gets to the moviegoer is the monster itself.
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This is the stuff of Lovecraftian nightmare: Huge, unstoppable and with an unending thirst for human death and suffering. This guy isn't Cthulhu, but they grew up on the same block. He stomps merrily through the city, knocking over buildings, eating people and dropping his parasitic brood all over the damn place.
The brood is particularly nasty. They share their parent's thirst for blood, but they have one weapon the parent does not - when one is bitten by one of these creatures, the wound is always fatal.
It should be left to the viewer to discover why. It is pretty gross, so leave the kids at home.
Surprisingly, for a giant monster flick, it's actually a rather character-driven film. The real story of the film isn't a giant monster - that's just the backdrop. It's the characters that really push the story forward. Michael Stahl-David delivers a rather moving performance for a monster movie in his character's single-minded drive to find his would-be girlfriend in the wreckage of the city.
His best friend, played by T.J. Miller, follows him around, faithfully filming the events that are happening around him. Mike Vogel gives a short performance as Stahl-David's brother, and Jessica Lucas turns in a much longer performance as Vogel's girlfriend. Rounding out the cast, Odette Yustman and Lizzy Caplan deliver decent performances as Stahl-David's would-be love interest and the more-or-less innocent bystander.
None of the humans give a bad performance in this movie, and the monster is freaking awesome. While many may be put off by the camerawork, J.J. Abrams should be applauded for creating a memorable addition to the giant-monster genre.
All around, it's a decent popcorn flick. Beyond that, it has some interesting commentary on how people handle a disaster, and it pays a nice homage to "Godzilla" and H.P. Lovecraft.
Even if you have to take some Dramamine, go see it.
"Cloverfield"
A-
now showing
