Cloverfield Review

Grade: B

The cat is finally out of the bag and J.J. Abrams big monster movie ‘Cloverfield’ has smashed its way into theaters. Released behind a shroud of mystery about what kind of monster will be destroying the city of New York this time.

On the night of Rob Hawkins’ going away party the city of New York comes under attack by an unknown assailant. All we know is that it is big, mean and unstoppable. In an effort to flee the city Rob, his brother Jason, and friends Hud, Marlena and Lily take off from their Central Park apartment towards the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way to the bridge Rob gets a short-lived, desperate phone call from his best friend Beth. This sends Rob into a race against time to find Beth and still evacuate to get out of the monsters destructive rampage. After the monster’s immediate emergence a shocking scene of the Chrysler building being knocked down and seeing the citizens running from the cloud of debris is enough to make anyone’s heart pound.

‘Cloverfield’ is shot from the first-person perspective of Hudson ‘Hud’ Platt, one of Rob’s closest friends. Hud’s dedicated to hold on to his camera and document all the terrifying events of the night, along with his commentary that probably speaks the audiences mind. Although the thought of a ‘Blair Witch’ style film may turn some stomachs, it is quite possibly the most ingenious idea for a new series for a new monster movie franchise. Similar to the “smoke monster” on Abrams’ hit show “Lost” the monster in ‘Cloverfield’ is cleverly concealed by buildings and quick movements by a frightened Hud while running for his life with his friends. One of the most unique aspects within the picture is sentimentality between Rob and Beth, and the suspense of running from the unknown threat.

Under the direction of Matt Reeves, and with the production stylings of Abrams ‘Cloverfield’ creates a sense of wonder, excitement and terror of what could be looming around every corner keeping the audience on the edge of its seat. With a running time of 85 minutes the movie may seem short on the way in, but once the opening credits begin time loses all meaning and the only thing running through everyone’s mind is “What’s going to happen next?” And if a monster tearing its way through NYC on its own isn’t scary enough, the cause for our terror also drops some crab-like minions that scurry through the city, able to get into places where our monster is too big. In some ways these guys are a scarier concept than the actual beast.

With a gross of $41 million over the long weekend, ‘Cloverfield’ took the record for highest gross in an opening weekend for a movie released in January, overtaking the “Star Wars” special edition released in 1997, it also had an opening day gross of $16.75 million for the month of January.