Cloverfield

With its distinctly queasy visual sensibilities and a cast comprised primarily of unknowns (the one notable exception being genre staple Chris Mulkey, who makes a brief appearance as a gruff military man), Cloverfield is a sporadically effective yet undeniably uneven piece of work that clearly would’ve benefited from a little less excitement surrounding its release (ie the film ultimately can’t quite live up to the hype). Set over the course of one very long night, Cloverfield follows a group of friends (including Michael Stahl-David’s Rob, Odette Yustman’s Beth, and Lizzy Caplan’s Marlena) as they attempt to avoid a monstrous creature rampaging through New York City. The film’s central gimmick – it’s been shot entirely from the point of view of the characters – certainly lends the proceedings a palpable you-are-there quality, yet the almost unreasonably shaky camerawork becomes tedious almost immediately and (worse still) ensures that it’s often difficult to discern exactly what’s going on (the fate of at least one character remains a mystery because of it, for example). And while it’s impossible to deny the effectiveness of several monster-centric sequences, there’s little doubt that the movie fares exceedingly poorly in terms of developing its human characters (this is particularly problematic during quieter moments, as the film essentially morphs into a second-rate young-adult melodrama that’d be more at home on the CW). By the time everything’s said and done, Cloverfield simply isn’t able to overcome its low-rent visuals – as one generally can’t help but wish the film had been shot in a more straight-forward, flat-out traditional manner (it might’ve been nice to get a decent look at the monster, for one thing).

**1/2 out of ****