Cloverfield

We are watching this film through the lens of a video camera and right away I am annoyed by it. I have these sudden urges to hold the camera still so I can see clearly. Anyway Lily and her boyfriend Jason (Jessica Lucas and Mike Vogel) are preparing a surprise going away party for Jason's brother Rob (Michael Stahl-David) who has taken a job in Japan. Jason, who doesn't want to be bogged down by the camera all night gives it Hud (T.J. Miller) Rob's best friend. As he is filming we discover that Hud has a thing for this woman called Marlena (Lizzy Caplan) while Rob and Beth (Odette Yustman) slept together. The scandalous part being they have been friends for years and years and Rob never called her afterwards. Things aren't any better at the party and Beth goes home.

At some point after that there is an earthquake, a rather large one that freaks everybody out. They all go up to the roof because an oil tanker capsized in the bay and they want to see. It explodes sending burning debris flying everywhere and they all race down out of the building, trying to understand what is happening. Hud, who is still filming, gets a flash of something moving and then there is a giant dust cloud that forces them to take cover in the corner store. As they are hiding something VERY big passes. No one can see anything but there are tremors that are its giant footsteps.  Lily, Marlena, Jason, Hud and Rob band together and make their way to the Brooklyn Bridge to get off Manhattan island but as they are crossing Rob gets a call from Beth. Then the bridge starts shaking and all we see is a giant tail that crashes into the bridge, smashing it into two. They race back, safe, all but Jason.

Rob then has the bright idea to go help Beth who is pinned down and bleeding in her apartment and the others all go with him for some stupid reason.  Before they go to Midtown Hud sees a news report on a TV in the electronics store. The army has been called in and we see snippets of the creature that is attacking New York and there is something new; there are smaller creatures that drop off the giant creature and start attacking the soldiers.

During their hike to Midtown they get caught between the army and the creature and have to dive into the subway where they sit and talk for a while instead of hiking along to tracks like I would've done.  Because that's the great thing about the subway it connects places together underground and underground is exactly were the creature is not. Eventually they do hike along the tracks, but by that time those little creatures have caught up and attack them. Marlena is bitten after saving Hud but they are able to get away and continue on.  They meet up with the army after and Rob is trying to get them to help Beth but they have more important things to deal with, like a giant creature attacking the city. Marlena then starts screaming and I'm not too sure if her head explodes or a soldier shoot her. Apparently after you get bitten by the little creatures something happens to you and you die.

Anyway, the army guys tells them they can go help Beth but they have until 6 am to get to the last helicopter because that is when the army is going to blow up Manhattan. So off they go. They get to her apartment building and after some heroics involving climbing from one roof to another they get to Beth and get out.  Then to the helicopters. Lily gets put on the first helicopter and the others on the second , with Hud filming all along. He shows the bomber coming and attacking the creature which falls under the onslaught. For a few moments everyone cheers but then the creature jumps up and grabs the helicopter causing it to crash. Miraculously Hud, Beth and Robb survive. The military guys in the chopper...not so lucky.  As they stumble out of the chopper Hud looks up and comes face to face with the creature. For a moment they stare at each other but eventually the creature kills Hud and Robb grabs the camera and he and Beth hid under a bridge in Central Park while the siren for the nuclear bomb is in the background.  The confess their love for each other right before they are killed.

So as horror movies go, it wasn't very scary. As I said at the beginning I really don't like watching a movie through handheld cameras. It just makes it a bit predictable, every time he fumbles with the camera or puts the night vision on, there is going to be something that will either jump out of be standing over someone's shoulder.  At the beginning when you never got a full gimps of the creature there was an air of suspense an mystery but that diminished as the movie wore on and you saw more and more of it.

It was also unbelievable that Beth survived in her apartment and that the three of them survived the chopper crash. Also the pure stupidity on their part throughout the movie, you just wanted to smack them. Hud was no better with his endless ramblings about nothing and his need to film everything because people need to know what was happening. Dude you didn't even know what was happening and you were living it.

Overall not a great movie but I've sat through worse.

Grade: 5.5/10