A field of clover would be more interesting! (Cloverfield (DVD))

Member Name: charlie1979

Product:	Cloverfield (DVD)
Date:	01/02/09 (261 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good special effects

Disadvantages: Weak plot, too predictable

Cloverfield was released in January 2008 and directed by Matt Reeves. It follows the story of Rob Hawkins who has a new job which means he will be leaving his home town of New York for Japan. His friends decide to throw him a surprise leaving party. The party is in full swing when what seems to be a violent earthquake brings everything to a stand still as the building shakes and the power starts to go out across the city.

The party goers decide to go onto the roof to see what is happening where they see a huge explosion. Everyone rushes out on to the streets where panic is setting in as it seems that a giant monster is the cause of al the disruption and not an earthquake. Their battle begins to escape the city and flee this unknown monster.

The start of the film displays the text stating that this film was found on a camcorder after the events and therefore the whole story is filmed on a camcorder but the visual effects and clarity are movie quality, funny that! At the start of the film you hope that this third person filming is only short lived but it continues for the whole film. You do get used to this however at times you just wish for a steady film shot without hearing the voice of the cameraman! Most of the words you hear throughout the film are 'oh my god, oh my god', I got so sick of hearing this I was shouting 'oh my god will you please shut up'!

There were elements of the film that reminded me of Spielberg's 'War of the Wolds' with big loud footsteps pounding the streets, hearing these sounds and not knowing what is coming towards you. I must admit it did sound great with the bass turned up on my surround sound! Unfortunately the plot of the film is very weak and this is the only resemblance I can make to War of the Worlds!

I had never heard of any of the actors in this film nor seen them in anything before. The acting was very average to be honest and at no point during what should have been some highly emotional performances did it blow me away! In my opinion many of the parts were over acted. To me a great acting performance should seem effortless yet believable to the viewer.

At the start of the film when everyone in New York is spilling out onto the streets to see what is going on the most cringe worthy point of the film occurs! Debris is flying everywhere with fire balls and dust then all of a sudden a huge object flies towards the young group. What could this large object be? Well, it's no less than the head of the Statue of Liberty! Oh, please!

This film is typical with many American big budget blockbusters in so far as it had a lot of hype and advertising surrounding its release. Was it worth it? In my opinion no! at no point did the film grip me. The plot was weak, the acting poor and the only real good thing I can say about it is that the special effects were pretty good! The plot was far too predictable and involves the American must have love story where the man rescues the woman from certain death, yawn!

Overall I was really disappointed with this film. It is yet another example of the Americans spending far too much money on special effects and advertising and not enough on the plot! This film has had mixed reactions from the critics so I would say give it a go but it's not to my liking!

Summary: Another flim not worth the hype