Cloverfield Review

Cloverfield. I can't really say it's a great movie. In my mind, a great movie is one I buy on DVD the day it comes out, and I watch it frequently. I'm talking about watching it beyond the two week excitement period, where you watch the same movie four or five times. Jaws, for example, is a great movie. Cloverfield... I can't imagine Cloverfield will work on DVD. So it's not a great movie.
But it's an awesome movie.
I will sit here and tell you it ranks as one of my top five theater experiences of my life. One of the best times I've had in a movie theater ever.
In case you don't know anything about it, it's premise is pretty simple. Rob likes Beth. Rob sleeps with Beth, never calls her back. Beth comes to Rob's party, leaves early. Rob pines for Beth. Giant monster attacks New York. And so on.
It's told in that hand held camera style, originally used in The Blair Witch Project. There is no music, no explanation, no panning camera shots. It is just the footage that these people shot.
And that makes it a very exciting movie experience. Some movies, you might talk at the screen. Tell a character that they are obviously about to make a big mistake. This movie, I was screaming at the screen, because I was so involved. At one point, I involuntarily yelled "Whoa!"
This is a brave movie. JJ Abrams and Matt Reeves do things here that are amazing. You never get an explanation for the monster - you just follow this group of friends as they try to survive and rescue a friend. It is exactly what you would say or do in this situation.
Like I said before, it probably won't stack up on DVD. But if you see movies in the theater at all, see Cloverfield.