Cloverfield (2008)
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 196
Fresh: 150 | Rotten: 46
A sort of Blair Witch Project crossed with Godzilla, Cloverfield is economically paced, stylistically clever, and filled with scares.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 10
A sort of Blair Witch Project crossed with Godzilla, Cloverfield is economically paced, stylistically clever, and filled with scares.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 376,518
My Rating
Movie Info
Producer J.J. Abrams teams with writer Drew Goddard and director Matt Reeves for this frenetic tale of a powerful destructive force that descends upon New York City, and the four desperate people who put their lives on the line to embark on a perilous rescue mission. Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) is a young American professional who has recently been offered a coveted new job in Japan. Eager to send his older sibling off in style, Rob's younger brother, Jason (Mike Vogel), and his
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Cast
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Lizzy Caplan
Marlena -
Jessica Lucas
Lily -
T.J. Miller
Hud -
Michael Stahl-David
Rob Hawkins -
Mike Vogel
Jason Hawkins -
Odette Annable
Beth Mcintyre -
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Cloverfield Trailer & Photos
All Critics (196) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (157) | Rotten (48) | DVD (19)
The mechanism is the message in Cloverfield, a movie so aluminum-sleek, ultra-portable, and itsy-bitsy sexy, it's amazing Steve Jobs didn't pull it out of an envelope at Macworld.
Top CriticI had a lot of fun with this inside-out take on the monster movie.
Under the modern flummery, behind the faux amateurism and the handheld shudder, Cloverfield is a vastly old-fashioned piece of work, creaking with hilarious contrivance.
The fleeting, incomplete glimpses of the monster early on prove the old dictum of B-movie auteur Val Lewton that a momentary image can have greater impact than a prolonged one.
Maybe we now live in a world where we record the moment first and feel it later. If that's the case, Cloverfield leaves us waiting to feel.
Smartly reconjures the 1950s monster movie for the digital age.
Imagine if somebody came up to you, grabbed your head, and jiggled it around for 80 minutes. Now imagine they did that while you were trying to watch a movie about a monster attacking New York City.
So what is Cloverfield? The best Godzilla film never made? A re-invention of the monster movie genre? You could certainly argue both points: it feels like every creature feature you ever saw, but seen from a totally fresh point of view.
Thanks primarily to its inventive shooting style, Cloverfield is a terrifically frightening film.
Mind-blowingly great.
Cloverfield is a very good giant monster film, as good as we've had in America in quite a while and if a lot of its enjoyment rests on a gimmick, it's still a very good gimmick and the filmmakers make the most of it.
Paramount have given us a nice 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, 5.1 DD soundtrack and stacked this DVD with a number of extras.
Memorable neither for its special effects nor the gimmickry of the hand-held camera.
A stylish and satisfyingly intense update of one of Hollywood's most well-trodden film concepts: the attack of the 150-foot (give or take) monster.
Grabby 9/11 imagery, facile jolts, and smeared textures
Characters may struggle for interesting things to say on camera, but the film nonetheless reveals hidden depths.
For gasps and thrills and movie monster mayhem, the film is a success. It's not flawless, but if you shove that aside, I guarantee you that you will have a gas at the theater.
I think when they started filming Cloverfield, somebody accidentally dropped the camera. Someone else said, "Cool." So they kept dropping the camera. And they threw it, and jerked it, and kicked it. And it went into terminal spasms.
Still too many unanswered questions for my tastes.
A clunky blend of hand-held camera and faux realism. How can the creator of shows like Alias and Lost make such weak movies?
It's the closest a film has ever gotten to a roller-coaster ride. It will definitely nauseate, it feels claustrophobic, there are sudden scares, and it also peaks too early.
If you like kick butt monster movies, then this one will deliver for you! Go see it right away!
Audience Reviews for Cloverfield
Super Reviewer
Cloverfield is a near masterpiece and the best "monster" - film ever made. It is a stroke of genius from the minds of director Matt Reeves, writer Drew Goddard and producer J.J. Abrams. They have understood that what we in the audience don't see is often much more scarier than any special effect creation.
Matt Reeves seem to perfect choice for director here. He makes everything seem extremely authentic and while at times it has problems with logic, it still manages to walk out as a scarily believable film. From all of the found footage films, Cloverfield is easily the most effective. It has brains, it has innovative style and most of all it is highly entertaining. This is a wild ride so you better fasten your seatbelts before you go and see it.
Super Reviewer
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- Marlena: I don't feel so good...
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- Hud: Rob, it's time to leave the electronic store.
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- Marlena: It's eating people.
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- Rob Hawkins: Look at me! Look at me! Look at me. I love you!
- Beth Mcintyre: I love you!
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- Hud: Rob, what time do the choppers take off?
- Rob Hawkins: 0600.
- Hud: What time is that?
- Rob Hawkins: 6:00 Hud.
- Hud: Oh yeah, I knew that.
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- Hud: Please tell me she lives on the ground floor.
- Rob Hawkins: 39th.
- Hud: Shit.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| I just don't get it... | 7 days ago | 0 |
Latest News on Cloverfield
March 7, 2012:
Drew Goddard Talks Cloverfield Sequel"The truth is, these things take time."
September 2, 2010:
Barry Levinson Gets Scary with The BayDetails have started to emerge regarding Barry Levinson's upcoming "eco-horror" film, now titled...
May 5, 2010:
First Details on J.J. Abrams' Next ProjectHey, guess what? J.J. Abrams has a new movie coming out, and the first trailer will run before "Iron...
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