This movie had me on the fence. This film is shown as hand-held footage of a camera-phone found after the fact, like with "The Blair Witch Project." The first 15 minutes of the film are so boring, I nearly gave up on the film. But when the action starts, it takes off. Unlike most monster films, this shows an on-the-ground view from beginning to end. The hand-held camera is a truly mixed bag. On the plus side, you get a convincing ground view of what it's like to be caught in a city being attacked by a giant monster from outer space. The truth is that most people caught in the middle would have no idea what's really going on, only that the city's being destroyed and they need to run for their lives. On the down side, the camera is so shaky, it's often hard to watch. While the monster itself is nothing great, it's filmed so effectively that it scares anyway. As the lead characters risk their lives to save a semi-girlfriend who's trapped in her apartment, the fear and chaos are very real. On the down side, some characters recover from injuries far too conveniently to be believable. Then, when the end comes, it's so abrupt and leaves so many unanswered questions, it almost ruined the film for me. But by then, I'd gotten enough thrills and suspense to satisfy me.
Review of Cloverfield
