Review does not contain any ‘real’ spoilers but links might do.

Cloverfield (IMDb) (Trailers)

It is now a week ago I saw Cloverfield for the first time and I might see it again in another week. There have been written a lot about this movie and how it was filmed and it is one of those movies that either you love it or you hate it.

To illustrate this I will give a summary of the cinema experience:

I went with 3 friends and this was the verdict:

• 3 of us liked it very much; two of us actually consider it one of the best movies for a long time.
• The last one of us thought it was total crap.

Now let’s split it up in sexes:

• 3 guys: Love it
• 1 girl (she might prefer woman/lady…): Total hated it, considering it ‘crap’

This does not mean it is only a ‘guys’ movie; well at least I don’t consider it so.

I have to admit it is a special movie, just based on how it is all filmed, if you seen the trailers you will know what I mean, the whole movie is done so it looks like it is filmed by one of the actors using a small hand cam. So a lot of shaking, focus issues, changes of view very suddenly. At NO time the camera view changes to ‘another’ camera, it is always the person from the movie holding it.

Some people complained about this, that it causes nausea and headache but just like some games does this (Good old Doom did this); the effect is just different from person to person. It did annoy me a bit at the very start but I soon got over it.

I also heard people complain about the character development in the movie but this is a ‘private home movie’ so people know each other, so fine in this format I would say.

What I really liked about it was the fear these people had and you did feel it from time to time yourself (for those who seen it: tunnel), this together with the excellent sound just made it all more ‘real’. We did go to the best place in town to watch it and I suggest that people go to a place where the sound system is GOOD as it adds a lot to the movie.

There is a lot of action and adrenalin in the movie, sure the first 20 minutes can feel long but after that the tempo goes up a lot. You will also find lot’s of good humor in it, without it been lame at all. OK, I admit it, I was probably smiling and laughing a good few times when it was not really supposed to be funny; that’s just the type of guy I am.

Only negative thing I can say about it is: Too short and that I need a new sound system for it when it is released on DVD/Blu-ray.

What is next

There are of course a lot of rumors about a possible sequel and I could very much imagine that there will be one. Google will give some good links to rumors and also to hints that are in the current movie. This one would of course be filmed in another way (unless other people filmed the whole happening on their camera). I could imagine a more ‘normal’ movie which might also give some answers to all the open questions (Why? What? Did they….)

I know, I will be there when the second one starts (Keep an eye on IMDb for it)

Last of all: Um… I had a good day. :-)