We saw the tremendous trailer, the viral marketing, the clues hidden in the bizarre photographs and fake Japanese drink websites and I became concerned that in many ways another Godzilla was growing, a collective anticipation to be burst and deflated as soon as the creature itself is seen.
The success of Cloverfield is that in many ways it just doesn't matter what the twisted and gigantic monster looks like, because this film isn't about the creature.
It is about the utter terror and destruction that washes over the insignificant humans around it and how they find what it is that is important to them through their suffering and despair.
Drew Goddard 's script is tight and balances suspense, awe and raw terror with moments of humour to give the audience that short respite before ramping up the tension again.
Matt Reeves sometimes chooses shots to emphasise the handheld nature of the "footage" that aren't necessary and detract a little, but the majority of the film draws you in and does not let you go.
The actors are far too pretty to truly be Everymen, but still I was effected by their performances, particularly Michael-Stahl David's driven but aptly devastated and bewildered turn as Rob.
T.J. Miller plays Hud, given the task at the party which opens the film to document people's farewells to Rob before he leaves for a new job in Japan. Hud's character is both the comic relief and narrator and has a perfectly pitched, deadpan delivery which contrasts the frenetically bizarre disaster going on around him.
Most of the characters are little more than ciphers, which is unsurprising in a film that clocks in at just over an hour and 15 minutes, yet the lack of development, the sometimes clumsy special effects and plot contrivances are just washed away in the unmitigated thrill of it all.
Each time you think you realise just how bad things are for them, it gets worse and the feeling of powerlessness becomes more and more palpable until the audience participation turns into the voyeurism that the idea of the camera implies.
The choice of the handheld camera as the eye of the film isn't just effective in the fly-on-the-wall style that has become so popular in television drama in recent years, it also gives the illusion of stripping away the comfort zone of editing; the camera does not fade to black when something horrific happens, it keeps going and we experience things that leave us in no mind that anything can happen.
This is still a Hollywood film, there are a number of occasions where belief has to be suspended beyond just the monster so have no false expectations of this being a faux documentary.
There are a number of things I would like to go into detail on but I find myself having to be vague to avoid spoilers, just prepare to be bombarded in as frenetic a manner as I can remember in a film in recent years.
Cloverfield is a dark, howling film that even in its own sense of despair manages to be fun.
