Cloverfield (DVD)

Well, it was long awaited, but now it's here, a digitally produced film, which only took six months to make.

Does Cloverfield live up to the hype? Well, it may not be revolutionary (it follows the footsteps of The Blair Witch Project), but it's a tremendously well-crafted monster movie that takes the 'ordinary person's perspective of apocalypse' from Spielberg's War Of The Worlds and pushes it further than ever before.

As with Blair Witch, Cloverfield is presented as 'found footage' shot on a video camera, and as the film begins, we're watching a tape marked 'Property of Department of Defence'. The footage is entitled 'Multiple Sightings Of Case Designated Cloverfield' and was recovered from an area "previously known as Central Park", where a party is being thrown for Rob (Stahl-David), a young guy who's leaving New York for a job in Japan. He's still in love with Beth (Yustman), an ex-girlfriend who's brought another man to the party, and a tense confrontation between them ends with Beth angrily leaving to go home.

So far, so normal. But then a power-cut and an earth tremor is followed by tremendous explosions, a massive fireball and the sight of the torn-off head of the Statue of Liberty landing in a nearby street. There's debate about whether it might be a terrorist attack, but it soon becomes clear that something gigantic and monstrous is smashing its way through the city.

While chaos breaks out and everyone tries to evacuate, Rob receives a call from Beth telling him she's badly injured and trapped in her apartment block. As a result, he and three of his friends - including the bewildered Hud (Miller), who acts as cameraman - set out to rescue Beth, and the rest of the footage follows their increasingly hazardous attempts to find her.

This film will keep you entertained, provided you give it your full attention, and it can be hard work in places!!

A mysterious and gigantic creature attacks New York in this docu-style monster movie produced by Mission Impossible III director and 'Lost 'co-creator JJ Abrams
In today's media-saturated, internet-focused world, it's rare for a movie to arrive without rumours, spoilers and speculation - but things were very different with Cloverfield.
Six months before its 2008 release, at which point the digitally shot movie had only just begun filming, nobody knew anything about Cloverfield (then going by the name '01-18-08', or just 'Untitled JJ Abrams Project'), other than it being the latest project from Bad Robot, the company of 'Lost' creator Abrams. Then the trailer arrived, an attention-grabbing teaser that still didn't carry the movie's title, and suddenly speculation went wild. The upshot was that a relatively low-cost ($25 million) movie with no recognizable stars ended up generating the kind of anticipation that's normally only attached to big-budget blockbusters.

Does Cloverfield live up to the hype? Well, it may not be revolutionary (it follows the footsteps of The Blair Witch Project), but it's a tremendously well-crafted monster movie that takes the 'ordinary person's perspective of apocalypse' from Spielberg's War Of The Worlds and pushes it further than ever before.

As with Blair Witch, Cloverfield is presented as 'found footage' shot on a video camera, and as the film begins, we're watching a tape marked 'Property of Department of Defence'. The footage is entitled 'Multiple Sightings Of Case Designated Cloverfield' and was recovered from an area "previously known as Central Park", where a party is being thrown for Rob (Stahl-David), a young guy who's leaving New York for a job in Japan. He's still in love with Beth (Yustman), an ex-girlfriend who's brought another man to the party, and a tense confrontation between them ends with Beth angrily leaving to go home.

So far, so normal. But then a power-cut and an earth tremor is followed by tremendous explosions, a massive fireball and the sight of the torn-off head of the Statue of Liberty landing in a nearby street. There's debate about whether it might be a terrorist attack, but it soon becomes clear that something gigantic and monstrous is smashing its way through the city.

While chaos breaks out and everyone tries to evacuate, Rob receives a call from Beth telling him she's badly injured and trapped in her apartment block. As a result, he and three of his friends - including the bewildered Hud (Miller), who acts as cameraman - set out to rescue Beth, and the rest of the footage follows their increasingly hazardous attempts to find her.

The idea of taking a home video perspective on something as absurd as a Godzilla-style giant monster attack is so full of potential, it's amazing nobody's done it before. Cloverfield executes this concept with incredible energy, and while the shooting style allows the film to take certain budgetary shortcuts, it doesn't shortchange the audience on spectacle, delivering some of the most jaw-dropping moments in recent years. This is thanks to the film's illusion of absolute reality. What could have been a standard monster movie taps into a YouTube-inspired culture in which everyone has become a filmmaker.

Verdict
From its unassuming opening to the terrifying finale, Cloverfield is a brilliantly produced thrill-ride that more than lives up to the potential of its 'docu-style monster attack' concept

I decided to buy this movie as i missed it in the cinema. i thought, that coming from the creators of Lost it would be good. i can only assume there is going to be another one, relating to this movie as it left so much unanswered.

the entire movie was shot on a hand held camcorder, and about 30% of the dialogue was made p of the camera guy shouting "Rob" or "Rob wait up" that grew old and annoying very fast.

the idea was excellent, but shamelessly lifted from 28 days later/resident evil with the whole infection being passed on via biting. yawn!!

wouldve been excellent if they had watched it back and corrected it, before releasing it.

oh well, i've relisted mine.
thanks for reading!

The only good part of this so call good movie is the sound effects in 5.1 surround sound.
If you like Blair witch then this is a movie for you, otherwise don't bother a waste of money if you do.I only rented it good job I did.

Original, gripping, good story, many easter eggs, nice monster design. I brought it after watching a hire DVD and is now one of my favourites.

Fast paced - action packed - suspense ridden - entertaining and fun. What more could you ask for in a film?

loved it, i enjoyed the films' angle, i.e. from the perspective of bystanders, it made the film more plausible and realistic, and can see that this film will be paving the way for sequels which will further enlighten the viewer!!!!!!!

I had heard a lot about this movie and decided to plump for the blu ray dvd. I have to say the action scenes are excellent, combined with the 'blu ray' affect is breathtaking.the audio is great as well, I have the panasonic bd30, linked up to my cambridge audio azur and very basic phillips 5.1.When I put this movie on I was expecting the sound quality to be okay, however I was taken aback by the sheer precise treble sounds and the meety base coming from this blu dvd. I would highly recommend this for those who like action packed movies.

The effects and story of this film is excellent, all very realistic and i loved it! i recommend this film to anyone its a great buy.

I was really looking forward to seeing this, I like the fact that I had heard good reviews, but did not know nothing about the storyline. It was very well done, but some could find the film a little busy. Good story and not your standard ending - well worth a watch.

Champion or Clanger?

It's "Godzilla" meets "Blair Witch Project", with a touch of "Critters" and unfortunately don't have a romance title to add!
You have a monster ripping up New York, while a bunch of twentysomethings film themselves fighting for survival against it's little off spring while trying to get to the guys beau.

Can't believe someone who is running around trying to save their life and their friends would film the entire event, especially while being attacked. I'd also like one of the batteries as the filming seems non-stop, what battery life for a cam-corder.

I'd have liked to have seen more footage of the creature and the devistation it was causing.

The biggest let down was the ending, everything seemed to be going along then it's the end with more implied than actually seen.

So Champion or Clanger?
Scenes of the creature and the effects - almost champion.
The acting and storyline - clanger.

I thought the movie was a really good spin on the traditional disaster/monster flick. The angle the film took made it very real and the glimpses of the monster rather than the full on shots made me more intrigued to see what was attacking the city.
The addition of the smaller alien/monsters made it more scary and some points in the film were edge of the seat stuff... However - and this is the part that ruined it for me...
When the gang were escaping I cant understand why the army chopper was flying so near the monster rather than away to safety during the final scenes? Then when the chopper crashed it was too far fetched that they survived (far fetched in a monster attacks NY storyline!!!) Then, after surviving that they see the monster is stood right above them of all the places it could be in Manhatten - ridiculous. It then eats the cameraman but somehow the couple manage to run away from a 200ft monster who is towering above them.
This movie would have been great had they all just died or all just survived rather than the pathetic near escape and survival of being in a helicopter that has plunged to earth from about 1500ft in the sky.
Almost great - but ends up average and the sense of let down at the end ruins a hard earned hour of enjoyment.

cloverfield is an excellent film and to purchase it in the steelbook which is now deleted is excellent as well. the price was a bargin as well.

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enjoyed it , original & different , a bit like marmite , some will hate it , i loved it.*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

This film I have got to say is one of the best films of 2008, captures the audience's attention from start to finish.

Having initially owned this title on DVD and, as stated above, loved it, I decided to buy it on blu-ray. I admittedly approached it with some skepticism, as I wondered whether (as a reviewer prior suggested) the high definition would take away some of the 'handheld' style that makes the film so captivating.
But I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. The quality is absolutely fantastic, whilst retaining some of the grainyness that makes this film so natural.

millions spent on production and special effects and i pick it up for £2.50 cant say fairer than that

its good movie watch out for the start and end scene in the theme park when they are on the giant wheel

the film was not what i expected at all.
maybe i was in the wrong frame of mind to watch it,but i seemed to be waiting for for the film to start.maybe i got it wrong

The film takes quite a long time to get into the action, about 20 minutes, this wouldnt usually bother me, but this film is only 1 hour 20 minutes long. When the action did kick off i was very impressed though. had me gripped for the rest of the film.

the special features are a bit botty, with nothing worth looking at really.

i'd give this film 6.5/10

Great story,great photography,& story, but in my opinion, completely destroyed by the nonsensical idea of using the "jiggering" idea of videomedia to record it. Gave me a headache. I think I will throw it away.

The best film I have seen since The Thing and Predator! Highly enjoyable and no sickly 'overwhelming' love story to ruin a good plot!

I didnt actually watch all of this film - after 20 minutes the constant movement of the hand held camera effect made me feel ill. Maybe watching it on a seven foot screen doesnt help but I just found it irritating to the point of no longer being able to watch it!
So no review here - just a complaint about the technique!

This film i found slow to get into. Alot of moving around of the film camera, just like the Blair Witch Project, however before too long an amazing story line begins which soon becomes what could almost be a believable reality. I was totally blown away with the special effects within this movie and for weeks after i could think of nothing else apart from what if the world was taken over by aliens???!!!!. This is a must see movie, but don't be put off by the camera moving around at the beginning, sit it out and be amazed!!!!