AdrianZaslona.com

When people stop me in the street (and they constantly do because i’m hella pretty) and ask me what i, a trusted internet journalist, thought of Cloverfield i tell them this.

It is the perfect monster movie.

Pretty straight forward. They want me to elaborate but i can feel an admiring crowd building so i move on quickly.

Here’s the extended verion.

Cloverfield represents the pinnacle of the monster movie genre. Drew Goddard, Matt Reeves and JJ Abrams deserve a massive swag of awards for creating this masterpiece. It’s as if someone melted down all the monster movie nerds in the world, then reforged them into these three beings. They form a truly magnificent triumvirate of movie genius.

There’s a pretty thin plot but just enough to keep it from being an 80 minute music video (see the second half of Transformers for that kind of rubbish). Our gang of New Yorkers get caught in the middle of a monster attack on their city. One of them has a video camera and he films their journey as they try to rescue one of their friends while dodging the truly terrifying creature that has attacked Manhattan.

That is it. That’s what drives the narrative and frankly it’s enough. There have been plently of people moaning over how the film doesn’t delve into why the monster attacks New York but i’ve got no problem with that. To be honest i really feel that i wouldn’t have enjoyed the movie if it had gone into the why of it. It is left totally open as to why the monster attacked or even if there was a why. The characters themselves wonder about these things but in the end it is just speculation (something everyone will be doing after they leave the cinema).

The effects are awesome and often terrifying. There were plenty of times when i was jumping out of my seat. Everything is blended together totally seamlessly. The film doesn’t rely on these special effects to get its scares though. It makes much more use of sound and shadow and editing than any movie i’ve seen recently and it is better for it. Modern filmmakers should learn this lesson. More does not always mean better. There’s more tension to be had from the unknown than from anything up there on the screen.

There was one down side. Motion sickness. If you are in anyway prone to this then avoid seeing this movie on the big screen because you will get sick. I’m not normally susceptible to this myself but i found my head in my hands quite about throughout this film. It fully utilises the hand held camera technique which is great, but occasinally nauseating.

Plenty of people have been bagging this film. Basically, they didn’t get it. This is a monster movie, not high drama. I went to this movie expecting to be scared and tense and entertained. I got all that and then some. There is nothing i would change about Cloverfield.

It is perfect.