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!!