Cloverfield's viral marketing campaign of last year threatened to choke any hope of living up to the hype, but I was pleased to find that the film itself does rise above it's hype-fuelled origins.
I was completely captivated for the whole duration (which admittedly is a short 87 minutes). The main criticisms of Cloverfield have been that the cast are all stock pretty-types and that documenting the event would rest roughly third on the "to do" list, after saving one's ass and maybe finding a McDonalds that is still open. I think both of these quibbles are linked to each other, in that the much-talked-about Youtube generation demographic (who tend to be the young and the beautiful) are most likely to document anything in their lives and put it on the internet, be it a boil on their arse or a massive monster tearing New York a new one.
I thought it was pretty amusing that Nokia seem to be the go-to guys in the event of mass hysteria (seriously, when have you ever had a mobile phone battery that works straight out of the pack? And while we're on the subject of batteries, where the hell did Rob get that camcorder battery? Maybe the battery is made with super-secret ingredients from the bottom of the sea, the procurement of which disturbed that gigantic beastie... just a thought)
The main feeling I got from Cloverfield was a palpable sense of tension throughout, and it's very rare that I find myself that involved in the action. When the film comes out on DVD (reportedly as early as April) it will have a space reserved on the "IN THE EVENT OF A MAJOR DISASTER, WE'RE ALL FUCKED" shelf alongside Right At Your Door and Threads.
