Viewing Cloverfield on my fairly large movie screen in my house was hard to endure, at times, because the hand-held camera shaking was almost unbearable. Sure, the director had to show the kids running from the menace and that wouldn't entail smooth camera shots, but a little less verocity to the camera shake would have been nice. Normally, I wouldn't mention such a thing as directorial choice, but in this case it actually got in the way of me enjoying the story he was trying to tell.
The story itself is about a surprise going-away party for Jason Hawkins (Mike Vogel). The camera is manned by his brother Rob (Michael Stahl-David) and his best friend Hud (T.J. Miller) as they collect goodbye messages from the awaiting guests. Soon after Jason arrives and some personal drama unfolds between him and his girlfriend, who abruptly leaves, the party continues until the apartment shakes violently. The party goers rush onto the roof of the Manhattan building to see what is happening and find, in the distance, something destroying the city.Jason receives a call from his trapped and injured girlfriend in her apartment across town. Unwilling to leave her behind, Jason, along with his brother and friends, head off to rescue her even though she lives directly in the vicinity of the creature killing everyone.
The story moves very quickly and the acting from a cast of relative unknowns works well enough. Despite the camera shaking, which lessens the impact of the film, the end result is an entertaining movie. If you're prone to motion sickness, car sickness or vertigo, I'd watch this film on a regular-sized television... or have a bag handy, just in case.On a side note, the cool thing is that the camera I own, the Panasonic HVX200, was used to shoot many shots in this film.
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