I was looking forward to seeing Cloverfield for a while now. So, of course we went to see it opening night.

My summary for this movie is that the concept was great, the effects were awesome, but the movie stumbled at points because of bursts of horrible writing. Basically, we get to see a Godzilla movie but from the perspective of a video camera carried by a 20-something and his friends trying to rescue someone trapped in the city. The movie starts of slowly, almost lulling you into boredom when, Wham!, the action starts with only a few pauses. The perspective is awesome, and the film really captures the chaos and terror of being on the ground if something like that were to happen. The details are awesome, too. Of course folks, early on during something like this, would probably stand around trying to capture pics on their cell phone cameras. I loved the perspective and the taste of what it would be like if you were there for a monster attack.

The film had two recurring writing problems. First, the characters weren’t very sympathetic. You weren’t rooting for them in any way. The film works simply by making you a witness of the event, but it would’ve been better if I wasn’t impartial to the main characters. This was a relatively minor problem.

My bigger problem with the writing was some laziness in the details. Characters, when they need to be, are gravely injured (for example, impaled on rebar), but then can run carrying someone else 20 minutes later. There were a few of these moments in the movie that jarred me out of suspending disbelief. Again, not what you want in a monster movie.

I still loved the concept, though, and recommend seeing it. This is one to see in the theater if you love monster movies or pulp science fiction. It’s definitely a rental otherwise. The concept is unique (Heidi mildly disagrees) and that alone makes it worth seeing.