Just Saw it, for now its an awesome missed opportunity, It's by no means a great movie, but its a very good monster movie. The monster is great, and the way it was shot was perfect, though the smaller creatures were much more effective (I'll say the subway scene is the best of the year in sometime)

That being said, I think the movie would have been better if it was shot like a regular movie. I mean, not much is lost, you could still show the monster as much as they did, and they still could have used the man filming the whole thing (The subway scene and the chopper scene, could still be used effectively) Because of this, I can't give the movie an awesome review, because face it, its not amazing. Though from the Electric store scene to death of the cameraman is quite awesome and everything seems to work. Everything else feels like it was shot, ametuer with great intentions. And while I felt it was realistic, I was surprised there was no jump cut.

It's really a hard film to talk about. I really liked it, and at the same time pissed as it could have been much more. It ended well, but if you tease the beginning with an army message, you could at least finish with it after the film footage ends.

B+/A- right now, knowing that if they just spent a little more time before they shot it, and went to many different camera styles it would have been. I'll say the best disaster film since Independence Day though.

Does anyone know where I can buy such an indestructable camera?

That's what I said to my friend when we left the theater.

Well... they never really drop the camera until the end parts... once is on grass... I guess in the subway.

I found the situation with the camera's battery life a little more unbelievable. One of the few changes I would make is have Hud steal one or two extra batteries from the electronics store... maybe he could steal them from other display model cameras so that they would be charged

But the movie is kind of designed around the idea that he didn't have his camera on the entire time.

Well the idea's that it was only on for 84 minutes, and camera batteries can last that long. Again, it's such a unique idea that there's bound to be some sort of realism problems to be found, but it's easily forgivable in my book.

I'm surprised you'll forget the experience. Regardless of whether or not someone likes it, it's hard to forget because stylistically, it's unlike anything we've ever seen before. I can't get the feel of it out of my head.

Well apparently survived.

I did get a chuckle out of the idea that the only one to live was the "black chick", usually the darker skinned characters are the first to die in these things

except in Snakes on a Plane

to counter your opinion? no one can counter your opinion. your opinion is your own. how you feel about the movie is not something we can change

thats why we all came down on you about factual things people can discuss.

I didn't love Cloverfield, but it was ultimately a rather gripping, intense experience. I can't remember the last time a movie kept me on edge for so long...United 93, maybe? Showing only token glimpses of the monster just makes it much more disturbing. This movie genuinely gave me the creeps, as not being able to see the thing puts you there with these characters. Similarly, since the movie (thankfully) never really tries to explain any of the backstory about the creature (I mean, there's speculation, but nothing concrete), the viewer gets to experience some of the same feelings of fear and confusion that the characters do. I also found the shakycam much less irritating here than in The Blair Witch Project. Using the handheld camera also certainly helps to draw the viewer in; you're there with these people, not just watching them from afar. None of the characters are really developed, which is to be expected, but they do still manage to draw degrees of audience sympathy for the sheer horror of their situation. The only actor in the cast I previously recognized was Lizzy Caplan, but all the cast members do admirable jobs. Overall, the film does an effective job making you feel the danger these characters are experiencing. I wouldn't say it's a great film, but it's one of the more intense films I can remember seeing in a theater in recent memory. B+

Three spoilery observations/questions/etc

What an intense movie. You just get soo drawn in. It would have totally lost this unique realism without the camera POV. I loved how they chose to base this film around deeply good people, instead of dumber selfish college students who would've left every man behind just to be alive (and on the side added more useless vulgarities) like every other horror film. I totally believed the main character's relationship as they were basically in love since high school. Hud was awesome. That Marlena exploded. Wow. How did the one brother's gf get through the movie with heels?? Why not grab a pair in the department store or in the building? The whole climing the fallen tower was brilliant as well as the tunnel. I loved it.

A

Hmmm don't helicopters always explode when they crash?? I guess we're too used to Die Hard.

Lets not forget it dropping on cement in the subway, then survived a Helecopter Crash, being chewed, spit out and falling, even if its grass, a 100ft drop won't do too good, and of course not just bombs, but rocks and debris falling on it. And while the film is 84 minutes, the party goodbyes start somewhere around 10, the brother comes a half hour later or so, and they don't get to the Chopper until 6AM, its starting to get light at that point, then who knows how much time after the chopper fell. But I think it is designed the camera is on the whole time. I mean when he's not holding it he places it down and keeps it running. And he may shut off briefly, but like said there are no huge jump cuts, its mostly Point A to Point B uncut the entire time.

Im not using this as evidence to downgrade the movie, just to counter the argument.

I meant this more as a joke. Because in movies, everything blows up!

In reply to Magnus:
You are being irrational. You are comparing these people to YOUR life and how YOU act with YOUR friends. Do you not realize that people act differently? Because your acting as if you don't.



I'm going to have to see this again... as I need to catch everything I missed. I waited for this movie since Transformers, and have followed it intently since day 1. It lived up to everything I wanted out of it.

Spot On. I bought it.

In a situation like this - what is "normal behaviour". Abrams and Reeves hit this one out of the ball park. It really did feel like the audience was right there in the thick of the action. This is not the type of film where every scene and action has to be nitpicked. Aghh.

This is indeed a classic.

Grade: A (a very strong one at that)

Well, looks like I'm going to go against pretty much everyone. First, I'll give the film credit where it's due. This is one well made motion picture. For a film that apparently had a budget of $25 million (I thought it was $50), they made it look at least four times more. The product is slick and the special effects are very well done. There was only one time in the film where I went "that looks fake" and that was a shot of Rob on the bridge where you could see the outline of the blue/green screen against his head. Not a big deal at all.

Everything else though isn't very good. For a thriller, it's not very thrilling and when it really tries to be, it doesn't work. The scene right after the "earthquake" (how does a tanker cause an earthquake again?) on the street with everyone running around in a 9/11esque fashion is the best scene in the movie. That was the one scene where I felt true chaos. That scene and the Brooklyn Bridge that is. Those are two good scenes. The scene in the train tunnel with those spider fuckers - hilarious. I felt like I was watching Eight Legged Freaks again. And that friend of there's inside the tent exploding, is easily one of the most unintentionally funny things I've seen in the past year. She gets bitten, feels woozy, explodes into bits and pieces. I follow ya. It's scenes like this that made the film somewhat entertaining for me.

For a monster movie, not a lot of destruction. Let me rephrase that. Without those shots on the news, there isn't a lot of scope provided into how much this thing had actually destroyed. Yes I realize that's hard to do when a main character is your cameraman, but give me something more than a few newsclips in an electronic store. The best destruction scene comes within the first 20 minutes. I did like however how they teased us with showing the monster. The three closeups we get of the monster are extremely effective because of this.

As for the characters, well outside of Rob and Hud, I didn't care too much about them. Hud provides the much needed comic relief throughout, so that's of course one reason to like him. Rob took some warming up to. At the beginning, he's just a yuppie like the rest of them. Then he has to make that phone call to his mother about his brother and the bridge. Not much is said in that scene, but it's one of the scenes in the movie the film is perfect on.

Finally we've got the running time. I usually don't complain about the running time to a film, but I've got two problems with the 74 minute running time. It's too long and it's too short. It's too long because the film makes 20 minutes to get going. Five minutes before the earthquake hit, I just wanted these people to shut the fuck up and watch stuff blow up. But it's also too short because the beginning of the film doesn't do a good job of making us feel anything for these characters that we're going to be with for the rest of the film. I didn't mind so much the lack of a backstory, but give me something to make me sad when they die.

So in summary; I didn't care about the characters, it's unintentionally funny, it's not thrilling, the special effects are well done, three to five scenes truly work, and it needed about 10 more minutes added on it's running time.

**

i just checked the box office report. it's going to break January Record. is it really that good? did we even get to see the monster?

True. I think the battery would last. Also he does indeed turn it off at times. You can see this when the action cuts from one scene to another and also whenever the old footage of the dude and his GF (meaning he may have stopped and rewatch some of the previous or just stopped and started).

Its a love it or hate it movie. Some people have problems with the ending in partucular and others with the shaky cam.

But you do get to see the monster - in full at the end - but more in teasing glimpses earlier in the film. That works best IMO. We see what the people on the ground see.

This is getting really nitpicky:



1. Dropping on cement in the subway... I've dropped electronics on concrete before and they have worked after.

2. Helicopter Crash: The humans survive, it depends on what it fell on/how hard it fell really. More unbelievable is not that the camera survived... it's that the army guys were completely killed and Hud/Rob/Beth basically walked away from the accident. One can assume that if they were relatively fine the camera could survive.

3. You are assuming a 100ft drop.

Again, I'm not saying it wasn't hardy or didn't stretch camera technology belief, but it is POSSIBLE for a basic piece of electronics to survive like this.

The camera is not on the whole time, because if it WAS it would have overwritten the entire Rob/Beth tape. It doesn't, so we can assume the camera was only on in those opportune times.


They are actually on the street 5 hours after the monster attack, so there are time cuts (like in the subway there's 3 separate cuts, when Rob is calling his mom there are cuts, in the military tent there are cuts, in the collapsed building there are cuts... etc.).

Well, I thought it was pretty terrific. The characters were likeable enough to make me root for them and believable enough that I felt completely absorbed in the action. You won't find any outstanding performances, but they were solid enough and never took me out of the movie - which probably couldn't have happened anyway. The way it was filmed, while making the film incredibly intense and immersive, also allowed for the story to not center on the monster, and I found that really refreshing. Even still, the monster, when seen, is a terrifying beast, mostly due to the impressive effects, and I really loved that you never really found out what it was. This film wasn't about the monster. I thought the end dragged out the inevitable too long, and it got kind of ridiculous when Hud was attacked, but other than that, this is as thrilling a movie as you're likely to find.

Yes, but its not necessarily a jump cut, where things are missing, it flows fine throughout. And come on, the monster is almost the same height as the Chrysler Building it seemed, You'd have to assume that monster didn't just eat Hub on the floor, he most likely brought his head up, and then spit him up. The camer fell at least a story, drop your electronics, like a 3 chip camer 10 feet and we'll see if its tip top. And you may have dropped things, but you probably never had something waying 100-200lbs, knock the camera at full speed out of your hand onto cement. I'm just saying, its no possible, it would be a miracle to survive one, but not two or the half dozen it goes through.