A couple of months back, I had written a post regarding the mysterious J. J. Abrams movie named Cloverfield. Today is the release date of the first highly anticipated movie of 2008, the question is, is it worth the hype? I found out that the movie was previewed earlier, and many of the reviews were extremely favourable, but weren’t very detailed, perhaps Abrams allowed people to watch it on the condition they sign a non-disclosure agreement? Anyhow, I’ve read some of the more recent reviews and they mention that the movie is basically “Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla”. It is supposely a story of how a guy tries to get close with a girl amidst the huge monster crisis in Manhattan. The whole time, you are watching the film through the eyes of an amateur videographer and only catch glimpses of the “monster”, never the whole picture. This effect supposedly feeds on people’s imagination and enhances the fear in our minds (just like in the Blair Witch Project). Also the with the amateurish filming style, it supposedly adds realism to the psuedo-documentary film.

I think one problem the film is going to face is that the images are going to be shaky and a lot of viewers may experience vertigo and motion sickness that they cannot take staring at the screen for the full duration of the film. Though my skepticism of watching a “corny, monster movie” exists, I cannot help but feel intrigued to watch it in order to satisfy my curiousity. I guess I’ll let you all know soon if it’s worth it or not…I’ll try to watch it sometime today. Stay tuned!

*Update* So I just finished watching Cloverfield a couple of hours ago and I have a couple of comments regarding the film. The storyline looks to be about a guy named Rob who is leaving to Japan for a new job and his brother and best friend throw him a farewell party. At the party, his longtime friend and love interest Beth is at the party and is conflicted about his feelings for her. Rob gets into a fight with Beth and she leaves the party…shortly afterwards, all chaos ensues. It’s basically a mediocre romance flick with a monster flick inbetween.

Though the constant camera shaking did give me a headache, the amateurish video style, the constant action and horrific images really added to the suspense and the disparity of the flick. Overall, I found it an enjoyable flick (as long as you don’t get motion sickness) and it wasn’t a cheesy monster movie I expected it to be (like Godzilla). The ending was somewhat gruesome but expected. As an added bonus, they showed a teaser for the new Star Trek movie! =D

-Stephen