Cloverfield (2008)

Director: Matt Reeves

Cast: Lizzy Caplan as Marlena Diamond, Jessica Lucas as Lily Ford, T.J. Miller as Hudson 'Hud' Platt, Michael Stahl-David as Rob Hawkins, Mike Vogel as Jason Hawkins, Odette Yustman as Beth McIntyre, Anjul Nigam as Bodega Cashier, Margot Farley as Jenn, Theo Rossi as Antonio, Brian Klugman as Charlie, Kelvin Yu as Clark, Liza Lapira as Heather, Lili Mirojnick as Lei, Ben Feldman as Travis, Elena Caruso as Party Goer

Some people have derisively compared this film to The Blair Witch
Project because it was all told from the point of view of someone's
shaking camera. Unless you have motion sickness, I don't think that's a
bad thing. What matters is who's in front of the camera. While The
Blair Witch Project featured annoying people screaming at each other,
this movie actually made me care about the characters. In fact if it
had continued with the romantic drama tone established during the first
half hour, I STILL think it would have been worth watching and that's
the biggest compliment I can give it.

Of course people will be watching this movie for the visceral pleasure
and Colverfield delivers. Many thrilling visual and sound effects wowed
me (there were a few times I yelled out in shock at a sudden scare).
Any horror film will also benefit from a sense of entrapment and this
movie pulls off the seemingly impossible feat of making New York City
seem claustrophobic because there was seemingly nowhere to hide from
the monster.

What is the monster? Whatever it is clearly is meant to be an allegory
for the carnage 9/11 inflicted on New York, much the same way Godzilla
was meant to be an allegory for the damage inflicted on Japan by the
atom bomb. There are moments seemingly recreating the documentary
footage from 9/11, and they give the film verisimilitude. Touching upon
real life horror, plus creating characters that we can relate to and
care about, and assaulting our senses with incredible sights and sounds
leads to entertainment worth watching many times over. Perhaps the 80
minute run time will bother some people, but on the other hand I think
that's better than a film wearing out its welcome. Great job J.J.
Abrams and company!