Cloverfield
May 2008 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

These days "Smile, you’re on Candid Camera" has taken on new meaning. At times it seems that you can’t go anywhere without being filmed. The only modern marvel found in greater abundance than cam cameras -- small handheld cameras sometimes attached to computers and the Internet -- is the cell phone. The public’s incessant desire to film everyday events has come in handy. Amateur shots on 9-11 actually caught one of the jets disappearing into the tower as it crashed.

What if a monster attacked New York City? Surely, there would be cameras running and they would catch the action. That’s the premise for this clever, refreshing science-fiction monster movie, our answer to Japan’s Godzilla. A group of 20-something New Yorkers is giving a going-away party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David), who is leaving New York in a career move. His best friend, Hud (T.J. Miller), is given a cam camera to film the event. There’s already something in the camera -- scenes of Rob with his ex-girlfriend, Beth (Odette Yustman), at Coney Island. She shows up at the party and it’s obvious that there is still some chemistry between the two. Suddenly doom and destruction show up. Like any good cameraman, Hud keeps his camera rolling and starts filming the destruction of Manhattan by a 30-story-tall monster. At first everyone spills into the street, trying to find an escape route, but when Beth phones Rob to let him know she is penned in, he and Hud go back into the fray in order to save her. The young, unknown actors do a good job with this slim plot and create characters that start off obnoxious but become more likable as they are under increasing pressure.

The entire movie is shot as if seen from the single camera that Hud carries. At the beginning of the movie, we’re told that the camera was recovered from what used to be Central Park. Used to be? Already we’re uneasy, and we stay that way. This movie is constant chase and action; there is no let up until it ends. Much criticism has been leveled at the film for its shaky photography. But it is a lot steadier than for The Blair Witch Project, and though the party scenes might have been more stable, it is not out of order to expect a guy running away from a monster to get some shaky shots. In short, it didn’t bother me, but it might you, so proceed with caution.

The DVD picture is exactly what I saw in the theater. Much of the time the image is grainy and the colors are subdued. In order to be realistic, focus is in and out, but when it’s in, images are sharp and crisp without any edge enhancement. The sound, however, is definitely not what you’d expect from amateur equipment. The surround speakers are very active and dynamic, and frequency range is very wide. I felt the sound lacked the presence one would feel in a live situation and seemed in large part post-produced, but perhaps the producers deliberately dulled it down for effect.

There are some neat extras on the disc. Director Matt Reeves gives an enthusiastic and informative commentary. There are several featurettes on the making of the movie. These are better than average and help to heighten one’s enjoyment of the movie. The one on designing and making the monster carries a viewer through the whole process in a very understandable manner. There’s a gag reel as well as deleted scenes and two alternate endings with director commentary should you choose that option.

Cloverfield was made using a fresh, innovative point of view that works for the most part and makes the story more believable -- and more terrifying. It’ll be easy to make a sequel. It can be the same monster and a totally different cast. You see, another camera has just been discovered at what used to be Central Park....

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