Cloverfield

Just saw Cloverfield ... very cool.

Heard it described as "The Blair Witch Project" meets "Independence Day" ... I can see that. At its essence, it's an old-fashioned monster/disaster movie shot on a hand-held Digi-cam.

I liked the fact that the cast is totally unknown ... just adds to the feeling that the movie is supposedly based on real footage from a video camera.

Of course, with any movie like this, you have to suspend some belief (aside from the fact that there's a 25-story monster destroying Manhattan). For instance, the movie takes place over the span of about 24 hours ... and everything is filmed on one hand-held camera ... with one battery. Ooookay. Actually, now that I think about it, the guy holding the camera ("Hud") could very well have had more than one battery with him and we just don't see him changing it ... no need to see that, I guess.

Anyway, I don't want to give too much away but it's worth a look in the theater because it sounds amazing ... when the National Guard/Army is walking down the street, guns and tanks blazing ... that scene alone is worth the price of admission. The scene just envelops you with sound.

Went with a friend of mine 'cause neither of our wives were remotely interested in seeing this movie. Just before the movie started, my friend said, "I hope that in this movie, our nuclear bombs finally work. Why does the Earth always get attacked by something on which our nukes never have effect?!?" Good point.

Again, I don't want to give anything away, the ending is ... unexpected. I kept trying to figure out how they were going to wrap up the movie and I didn't see the end coming. Gotta love that.

Oh, one other thing, the movie really isn't that scary. Yeah, there's some creepy stuff and some blood (but, thankfully, no real gore). I was expecting the needle to tip more on the scare factor, but it didn't.

If you see it, lemme know whatcha think.