Do not, under any circumstances, watch this film if you're prone to motion sickness. Thank goodness I sat in the back row of the theater... any closer and I may have had to start wearing glasses permanently. The headache and tired eyes after this film were worth it though, Cloverfield is a great film, even if I don't think it's quite as groundbreaking as JJ Abrams' biggest fans do.

Cloverfield is about a group of friends who are trying to survive an attack on Manhattan by a crazy mystery monster. The entire film is shown under the premise that a personal videotape has been found after the attack by The Department of Defense so the tape is being shown in its entirety without an added soundtrack, editing or added effects. The overall look of the film is very natural (if not a little nauseating) and it really does give the impression that you are right in the thick of the events on screen. The lack of soundtrack coupled with mostly no-name actors and actresses made the plot much more believable to a certain extent.

This film is surrounded with hype, and most of it is created by those who can't live without watching Lost every week. Cloverfield is produced by JJ Abrams and written by Drew Goddard (also of Lost fame). The secrecy surrounding the film's plot and especially its monster made watching the film more of an experience than it would have been if more were given away beforehand. Because everyone has walked into the film blind, the cheesiness seems a lot less... well... cheesy, and the hoopla made audiences (myself included) that Cloverfield is basically a direct ripoff of The Blair With Project with a much better budget and grander special effects.

Now, I don't think this movie breaks any kind of new ground, and without giving too much away about the film's crazy monster or different format, I do think it has quite a few interesting messages about today's culture and how it deals with emergencies. For example, I found it very interesting that many bystanders and extras in the films (as well as a few of its main characters) were more concerned with capturing footage on their camera phones and video cameras than actually helping people who had been hurt or were scared. A lot of times electronics really became a sort of security blanket and shield for people and the camcorder/Youtube style format of the film itself is really telling of how huge a role our personal devices really play in our lives.

Now, like I said, I don't think the film's different format really breaks any new ground or does anything entirely original, but it is a great modernization of some very original things that have been done before. The characters were human and not over the top, their struggles were believable considering the plot, and there were a lot of great scares that made that slight seasick feeling that hit me during the credits much more bearable.