Jackskeleton

A lot of folks will not like it because it's not a tightly wrapped up film. oh well, there loss. it was grand.

Anubis2005X

Saw it at the Hoffman. When the movie ended, the only way to describe the audience's reaction was kind of an overall laugh, followed by a very energetic cheering (I think they digged the bleak ending), combined with some groans from the people who felt sick...

Goldberg74

That is so true.

I'm still processing the idea of whether or not I liked the film, but I did enjoy it. Right now I'm leaning toward "I liked it"... but that could change. I did this same thing with The Fifth Element. After seeing that three times in the theater I loved it (an it's my favorite film to date).

As to the crowds reaction to the end of the film... silence. There has only been one other film that I have seen in the theater where they audience walked away in silence:

islandclaws

Ok, I just saw this again last night. Twice in 24 hours. The first time was on an IMAX screen, sitting a bit too close, so I didn't get the experience I wanted/needed.

Seeing this on a regular screen in the last row up top did it for me. I now see the film as a complete work of genius. The camera work didn't bother me at all since I had a good vantage point. This really is a film that needs to be seen twice to fully absorb all that is going on. I picked up on lots of little bits here and there that went unnoticed the first time. The party scene maybe could have been trimmed by about 5 minutes, but that's inconsequential compared to the thing as a whole. I like the set up of everyone having a good time, enjoying the evening while we, the viewer, know something is out there in the sea waiting to breach land. And once it does everything goes apeshit. NYC is my favorite city in the world, so just seeing any film that takes place there is already awesome to me. Having it attacked by a massive, unstoppable beast is even cooler.

Even though I'm such a fan of monster movies, I didn't NEED to see this monster the entire time. When we do see it, it's handing our army it's ass. When we don't, we know exactly what it's doing. Lumbering around, eating people and laying waste to a beloved city. People in my theater freaked when the little parasites dropped off the host, and they really hit the ceiling during the subway tunnel scene. The makeshift ER was a great sequence. We don't need to know exactly why what happened to Marlena after the bite happened, we can piece it together in our own heads. The ending was perfect. How could anyone possibly have expected it to end any other way?

After the movie ended a few people clapped, but most said it sucked and it was the dumbest thing they've ever seen. The only possible explanation I can have for that reaction is simply these people are FAR too stupid to get this film. These people wanted explanations from scientists and news crews shoving every bit of info they could up their ass so they didn't have to think about what they just saw. This is a vastly rewarding film for the thinking filmgoer. I, personally, want to go see this again for the 3rd time. It's utterly fantastic. 10/10.

juanmgonzalez

Which Imax did you see it at?

I watched this yesterday and besides sitting a little too close and needing some fresh air afterwards because of the camera work, I enjoyed it.

Next time i'm sitting in the back row!

My 6 year old son LOVED it. He's been wanting to see this since the trailer before Transformers.

RichC2

People aren't stupid, they just go to movies with certain expectations.

Generally speaking, most of the people who are into the movie know it's the story of a group of survivors of the initial attack and their story of trying to escape. Most people expect it to be your standard movie where you see not only a group of people, but what the government is doing, what the scientists are doing, and how everybody else is reacting. This movie was far too focused to satisfy them in that manner. The oddest reviews for me were "Tense! Scary! But the ending sucked, D-, I feel ripped!"

I suppose a better way to put it, it's a love/survival movie in the midst of a monster attack, not a movie about a monster attack. People wanted a movie about a monster attack, you know, the one we've seen a hundred times before. It happens. I never quite understood why people "must know" where something came from -- it's there, it's killing shit, thats all that really matters. But I guess you can get into your neo-political stances with that, I dunno, always saw it as a drag on the movies.

Whatever, I've always enjoyed speculation. And agree with the person who compared The Host, The Mist, and Cloverfield. Similar to an extent, yet totally different movies, all with their own highlights.

This is definitely a movie that will divide audiences.

Edit: I may have to take that back, I saw this review over at rottentomatoes:

from a 15 year old girl, and I see this being a primary group posting their comments:

Giggles

Just wanted to add that I absolutely loved NYC in Cloverfield. The city is portrayed beautifully and somehow different from what I saw in million other films. BTW it was also magnificent in I Am Legend

dsa_shea

I want to see it again. I may just have to go today to watch it for a second time.

islandclaws

I went to the one at the Irvine Spectrum. I sat in about the 7th row all the way to the right, so my viewing was very skewed. The colors were way off, which happens of you're not in the center for IMAX films, and we were so close it was hard to make things out sometimes. Last night at a regular stadium theater made things much easier to see.

Finisher

I had a problem with a guy risking the lives of three people to save one person.

Otherwise, I enjoyed it. It's an atypical monster/disaster/pure survival story. There's a real sense of immediacy and dread and feeling like you're there due to the camerawork.

xage

The different timeline seems to coincide with its DVD/High Def release?

Do you guys agree or not?... Looks like the viral marketing campaign will continue until its home viewing release around April-May this year?

argh923

He told them multiple times that they didn't have to come.

Artman

Really liked it, I'd say it met my reasonable to high expectations. Does anything happen after the credits? I didn't stay for all of it.

Anyone really wanting a sequel? Something like 28 Weeks Later would be really cool imo - different set of characters, drop the camera idea, but keep it loose and in the same style...and bigger of course...with the music theme... yeah it could be cool.

Rant on the audience.... man I'm only 28 but I felt old... a lot of teens at this one... pretty rowdy audience, the gal next to me yelled "shut up!"... the heckling was almost non stop. And I'm from Seattle...but the amount of times I heard friends calling each other "****" and "gay" just really bothered me.

There were some big fans there though...guys in their 30's, geeking out over the anticipation...I think the guy in front of me had some kind of nerd orgasm when the Star Trek preview was shown. I'd have rather had a theater full of those guys.

Edit: Sounds like a lot of people had the same type of audience... i guess the young cast brought out the rugrats for this one or something...

argh923

I'd like to see the ending again, where something supposedly falls into the water. I do remember seeing a big splash, but couldn't tell.

mndtrp

I would have given this movie a pretty high rating, except every time the characters talked, I started laughing. While I've never been stuck on an island with a monster tearing shit up, trying to save a friend I had no problem leaving 20 min prior, I have a hard time believing I would say half the stupid crap these guys were. "I feel I should say something, but I don't know what. I just feel I should say something." Repeat, say something equally as lame.

I grasp the concept that this was supposed to be filmed by an amateur, and most of the movie got that across well. However, even a 10 year old can do a better job of filming a party, especially when the whole point was to film people one on one simply talking.

Other than those two problems, I thought the movie was pretty good. I liked not knowing anything about the monster, I liked the general chaos of everything, and the movie sounded awesome.

I am recommending this as a rental to anyone who asks me. It wasn't worth $9, even though this was one of the better theater going experiences I've had. Of the comments I heard, most people coming out of the theater didn't like it. My girlfriend and I "got it", we just didn't like it.

Goldberg74

It's already been posted (in page 3 somewhere), but there is a bit of audio at the end of the credits that says...

Brack

Wowy wow wow. What an incredible movie. So intense (the most intense movie that I've seen in probably the last 10 years or so) and I loved all the little details. You feel like you're really there. The camera work was brilliant, and the monster didn't disappoint. This far exceeded my expectations. I also thought the integrated segments of the footage that was taped over was a nice touch.

Rating: 10/10

bunkaroo

Agreed 100%.

It's been almost 10 years since I moved back to IL from NYC, but Cloverfield really reminded me of what it was like to be on the street in NYC at night.

On a related note:

zombiezilla

Having been a Godzilla (and lotsa other giant monsters) movie fan my whole life, I really was looking forward to this, but expected very little (the American G-film taught me that lesson only too well). But I liked this one quite well; in fact, if this one makes enough money, I'll bet you see a "sequel/non-sequel". "Sequel" being more story, more monster, etc., "non-sequel" being that it is just another viewpoint of the same exact timeframe of this movie. I'd go to see it. They definitely leave you wanting more of the creature(s).

kantonburg

My wife and I caught this at the 2:10 showing. From reading most of the responses I'm glad we were 2 of only 8 people in the theatre.

Overall we enjoyed it. I was worried my wife would get sick with the shaky camerawork, but she didnt.

hapgilmore

I just saw this...sorry to disagree with everyone, but I thought it was pretty bad. The main issue, which I realize the movie is based on, the shaky cam was a terrible choice. It was annoying and made me feel sick after a while. Any replay value this movie may have had disappears by going with that style.

Aside from this:

-the acting was uniformly bad (there were many unintentionally funny moments)

-the whole story seemed ripped off from "The Mist" (a far, far superior film), especially the spider creatures

-the ending was disappointing and predictable

1 1/2 stars out of 4 for me.

JTH182

Just got back from seeing it. I guess I can't say much new that hasn't already been said, but here are my thoughts:

- First, I really enjoyed the film. I did. It was an exciting ride. The mix of hand-held video meets big budget movie worked very well.

- I had been following the hype of this movie for quite some time now, so I don't think there was any way I wouldn't feel a bit let down.

- The monster was decent. It wasn't really what I was expecting which is actually kind of good. I like to think of it as being confused and feeling trapped rather than it actually "attacking." I don't think this thing was attacking at all, but rather defending itself in an unfamiliar surrounding.

- The little creatures that fell off the monster were completely wasted and only in there to add an extra level of threat in the underground scenes IMO. This is one area I felt cheated in. We only see one person explode and are left with little else of bite victims. Didn't Hud get bit? Why was it taking him longer to explode? Why were the creatures "dragging him somewhere else?" The whole "infection" aspect really had me intrigued from the pre-movie hype and then was totally glossed over in the film.

- All in all this movie left me wanting "more." I felt the infirmary scenes could have used more time. The party felt like it could have had some parts trimmed or been better fleshed out in others. I'm glad Slusho played no part at all though. Seemed to make some of the ARG content kind of pointless and misleading though, which is frustrating.

My very first thought upon seeing the closing credits roll was "I can't believe the most believable part of the movie was the giant otherworldly sea creature" lol.

These people come face to face with the creature multiple times and survive. They climb up buildings and over roofs into crumbling structures after being beaten up and tired. After miraculously making it to Beth's room they find her impaled by an iron rod only to pull her off... and somehow she starts feeling BETTER? They then lug this girl down a building and she's able to actually get around.

I won't even mention the indestructible camcorder.

There are many parts that require suspension of disbelief in this film, none of which are believing the possibility of a giant creature from the deep coming ashore.


All that said, I definitely liked the movie. I just think it could have been better.

Maybe that's just the side effect of a months-long hype machine having sucked me in.


EDIT to add: I'll be buying it on Blu-ray when it comes out

OldBoy

i didn't hate it, but i didn't love it. the people at the party must have been the prettiest people at any party anywhere ever. i really didn't get into the characters at all and the rob/beth relationship was unneccesary. also, how the hell could Lily go through the whole movie, running as she did, climbing, etc... in high heels????
i didn't mind the camera work and it worked pretty well. the monster and its' off shoots were pretty cool. as i said i didn't hate it, but it could have been a lot better. really no desire to see this one again anytime soon.

baracine

It's hard to believe the greedy eejits who put this film together didn't think of the merchandising possibilities. Anyway, there is no soundtrack album, needless to say, and Michael Giacchino's website hasn't been updated since September 2007.

I left a message on www.michaelgiacchino.com about the huge interest generated by "Roar! (Cloverfield Overture)" - obviously the best part of the movie - and urging Giacchino to put out a CD pronto before it is bootlegged to death. We'll see what happens.

OldBoy

very well put!