Movie-Holic

This past weekend, I sat down and watched Cloverfield on DVD. I had forgotten that I had it on my DVD queue at Netflix and was a little surprised to see it in my mailbox. But, I figured since it was delivered I would watch it again. I didn’t mind it the first time so maybe it wouldn’t be a total waste of time. I threw the Cloverfield DVD into the DVD player and got ready to relive the movie all over again.

Cloverfield is one of those movies that you can either like it or leave it. Nobody in it is a well know actor, or actress and the movie is shot in a first person view with a hand recorder. Actually, there isn’t anything wrong with that, but a lot of people are put off by the camera view.

The movie itself is about a space alien that has landed in New York City and causing quite a problem. Unfortunately for some people who are having a party, this really breaks up the fun. Through a long harrowing night, in which there is a lot of destruction, carnage, freaky bugs, and people blowing up, the movie ends in a a rather abrupt way that is completely unexpected. Check out the trailer below.

Cloverfield Trailer

The first time I saw the movie was at the theater and I thought it was pretty good. I actually thought about buying the DVD when it came out, but never got around to it. I do remember that watching it in the first person camera view, much like Blair Witch Project and Quarantine, I felt a sense of being there. It might of had a lot to do with being in the theater, because watching it home I didn’t get the same sense. It was more like trying to keep up with what was going on. I didn’t have a hard time with the camera, I had a hard time with the action.

The acting… well, it could have been better and is probably the reason I have a lesser view of it now than I did watching it in the theater. The action does make up for the lackluster acting, but the real beauty of Cloverfield is actually in the story itself.

The imagination, to me, was off the hook as far as crazy, giant alien destroying New York and the people who live there goes.

In the end, I have mixed feeling about Cloverfield. I liked it, but it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it to be. I do still recommend it as a good movie, though. If you haven’t seen it, then do yourself a favor and pick it up for your next movie night.