That would have been awesome! A giant muppet tearing shit up in New York? Sign me up!
Cloverfield was not as cool as that. It was still enjoyable. It was indeed a cross between Godzilla and The Blair Witch Project. I didn't really have a problem with the Godzilla side of the equation. The monster was freaky looking and did a fair bit of damage. And seeing it from a civilian's perspective really did add to the impact. If I had cared more about the civilians, that would have been nice. None of them were horrible, but I only found one engaging. And the way she went out was awesome. I know they were going for realism, for believable dialog. But believable is not a synonym for boring.
And if they were going for a realistic/natural feel, the film makers should not have made the plot points so obvious.
I had no problem with the shaky camera work, but I had a problem with the editing. So they are running from the monster: fine. The camera is shaky: fine. Hud(the cameraman with the stupid name) somehow stops recording and then starts recording whilst running? No. Fuck that. Maybe he accidentally did it, but it just struck me as obvious editing.
And the sound. If you are going to get out of the boat, get out all the way. Shit or get off the pot. The mic should have been cutting out during the firefights. There is no way that the mic would have picked up a message playing on a cell phone held up to someone's ear, aforementioned someone standing in the middle of an electronics store that is being looted. And so on.
And (and) I can deal with the fact that the protagonists keep crossing paths with the monster, that is fine. But their final encounter with the Monster just rubbed me wrong? They didn't notice it was standing behind them? Can it be really quiet when it wants to? Is it a ninja?
But that final monster encounter led to my favourite shot of the whole movie, the shot that made the whole concept worth it. The auto focus couldn't figure out what to focus on. Loved that bit.
Didn't love the movie. But I liked it.
