Cloverfield.

My headache is almost subsided, and I’m left with a greater appreciation for Cloverfield than I had while I was watching it. The reports are true, if you try to concentrate too hard on the screen you’ll end up with a headache in the least, and possibly motion sickness if you’re weak stomached. The camerawork is dizzying, disorienting, and hectic. Of course it makes sense in context, but it does make for a hard film to watch. If you can hack it for the 85 minutes though, I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen; this is a unique film experience.

The biggest impression I came away from the film with is the amount of sheer technical skill and craft with which the film was put together. Everything looks and sounds so real, from the unearthly roars in the distance to the deafening thuds of the monster’s footsteps, to the crack of military rifle fire and pounding of tank blasts, to the sight of the Statue of Liberty head bowling down the street. To say it’s a visceral experience is to not give the effects justice. A disaster has never been filmed so chaotically or effectively.

Of course the story takes a back seat to the mayhem, but we are treated to some very convincing acting and characterization. The film begins with a going away party for one of the principles, where the camera makes its way around the room to tape the various friends giving their farewells. It’s a pretty ingenious setup that has amazing sponteneity and authenticism that really draws you in. A fake home movie is hard to pull off without making it seem, well, fake… but the director really accomplishes it here. I’m reminded of the short cinematic masterstroke in Death Sentence, released earlier this year, that had similar home movie footage montaged over the credits. When the chaos ensues during the party, we tag along with a small group of friends on a fairly linear adventure that takes us through a bewildering flight to safety, sickening discovery that someone is still left behind, a harrowing attack in the subway tunnels by some of the most disturbing creatures I’ve seen in the movies, and an extremely ill-advised rescue in a toppled building. The list of principle characters is kept short but sharply drawn and acted, the dialog sparse but totally authentic, and the plot simple but engaging.

There’s an awful lot happening onscreen all the time, and you could easily watch the movie repeatedly and pick up new little nuances each time, but all the plot points really necessary are showed or implied obviously enough. You’re not going to gain any profound realizations or insight by watching this movie, it is an experience I liken more to a rollercoaster ride or a fireworks display. The biggest appreciation I have for Cloverfield is it really is something new that hasn’t been tried before (The Blair Witch Project is sort of along the same lines but the sheer scale and production values of this movie daunt anything that even remotely compares to it) and it succeeds in what it sets out to do: to make a convincing spectator-level monster movie. For those reasons alone it’s an experience that lives up to the hype and should not be missed.