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I went to see Cloverfield (written by Drew Goddard; directed by Mat Reeves) on opening night with Colin, Ian and Steve. I’d been looking forward to it since I saw the vague but extremely exciting teaser months and months ago, in front of Transformers (which was a terrrrrrrible movie). Although I followed a bit of the relatively elusive online marketing campaigns (such as Slusho and 1-18-08), I managed to steer clear of anything that would ruin it for me.

I did, however, read a couple of spoiler-free reviews over at Twitch and I’m glad I did. I didn’t know what I would see, and after reading the reviews I realized that I shouldn’t go in expecting a full-out “monster movie“. Yes, there’s a big monster (and friends) invading New York, but we all knew that already. What I was glad to know in advance was that this is not simply a story about the monster.

I gotta say, I loved this movie. It was a lot of fun and a great 85 minutes of entertainment. Lots of bangs and creatures and running around and things blowing up and blood and long shots and improvised-style acting… plus it was nice and noisy. Sure, it was a bit cheesy at times, and the handheld-camcorder type of filming has been done before, but I think they did an amazing job. I was alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) gripping the armrests and getting goosebumps! I loved the crazy-shakey-handheld-”camcorder” camera work and the CGI was great. (As far as the camera goes, here’s a little post about it.) I have a strong stomach so I was fine, but some people were clearly uncomfortable with the jerky camera movements.

It’s been a while since I’ve been so hyped for a movie and not have it disappoint me. It was damn cool.

Here’s an interview with director Matt Reeves. It’s got a fair bit of interesting stuff in it. And here’s one of many Cloverfield blogs.