Director: Matt Reeves
(contains spoilers)

After the tauntingly teasing trailers that Lost producer J.J Abbrams drip-fed us for months, was Cloverfield worth the hype? For some, the reaction, “Finally! An original monster movie!” To others, this was just The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla, with more epileptic fits. To me, it was a surprisingly engaging movie, and though not a totally original concept, one that was well executed. I always welcome a challenge to genre rules and this film had a refreshing twist. Admittedly, the characters may have been less than lovable – you have a serious problem when your movie rotates around saving the life of a girl that the audience finds boring, not to mention a bit of a bitch. In fact, the only interesting characters to me were Marlena and Hud (Lizzy Caplan and T.J. Miller), one of whom was almost always behind the camera. Beth (Odette Yustman), on the other hand – was she worth two people dieing for? Was she in fact worth everyone dieing for? Most importantly – was she worth the hot girl dieing for? My answer….a big fat No. But, that’s just me.

However, technically I thought the movie was brilliant. It’s a tough thing, creating a giant CGI monster that won’t ruin your illusion of realism, but somehow these guys did it. The special effects of this film were almost always excellent, and the monster had so much character and life…more so than some of our heroes. I’d like to know more about the monster, the poor thing. And doesn’t Abbrams just know it? If Lost is anything to go by, the rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding this movie and it’s possible sequel are just the beginning (Damn it, Abbrams, you must be a really annoying, secretive person to be friends with. “Hey, J, where’s the keys?”…yeah, have fun un-riddling that answer). Anyway, I digress.

The camera-work and lighting were also excellent. There’s a fine line between realistic but unwatchable and squeaky-clean cinema, and they trod this line very well. Another highly dangerous line was the 911 line; reminding an audience of that event is a gutsy move, but was in this case effective. Background sounds were also very well used. After having no backing score, the sudden presence of music in the apartment-block lobby creeped me out no end, and it took me a moment to even realise why. But most of all, I think the un-sung hero of this film was the editor. With a picture that consists of so many continuous shots, it’s a skilful thing to know where to cut, and the flashback snippets to Rob and Beth’s old film was a beautiful touch. It kept us focused on the task at hand, made sure that their painful yet uninteresting relationship ran throughout the heart of the film and upset us with the fact that, like their lives, the footage was steadily being destroyed by this crisis. The ending clip was shamefully cheesy, but damn it, it creeped me out anyway, and fitted with the charmingly ironic tone that was our young couple (Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman) dieing at the hands of the Americans, after everything. Geez! They should never have gotten in that helicopter – haven’t they watched I Am Legend?

All in all, a very good effort and 85 minutes of my life well spent, but I pray to God there aren’t many sequels. Pirates of the Caribbean 4? More than one High School Musical? Even ONE High School Musical?! It makes me weep, it truly does.