Cloverfield

Yesterday I went to the movies as a kind of birthday present with a nephew of mine who recently came of age (being 18 in his case). Offered the options to either go to The Kite Runner or Cloverfield, for some reason he choose the latter. Now why would that be?

Pehaps the best way to describe Cloverfield is as a crossover between The Blair Witch Project and Godzilla, inheriting the better aspects of both of them. The whole movie is shot with a hand-held camera. Somewhat disturbing in the beginning but I got used to it pretty soon. Bending your head to the left or right on a regular base is a good exercise anyway.

It already has been described as an exponent of the YouTube generation, and some critics state that it redefines the concept of monster movies. Only time can tell if they are right. What I can tell you now, though, is that you don't need to be afraid of too much character building (there is none in any significant way), and in a pleasent way the monster is more a sidekick than the main dish of the story.

If you already saw the Kite Runner, you might consider Cloverfield as your next target. It's worth that big screen.