Cloverfield is much like The Blair Witch Project in that the movie is a screening of a fictional videotape that was found. The viewer learns that there's a surprise party happening to honor a guy named Rob (Michael Stahl-David) who has accepted a job in Japan and will be leaving New York the following day. Rob's friends are throwing the party while walking around with the camera as party-goers give Rob a videotaped farewell.

The initial source of tension occurs when a girl named Beth, accompanied by a man, shows up and causes Rob visible distress. The viewer then learns that Rob and Beth had slept together about a month earlier and Rob, conscious of the fact that he'd soon be leaving, had neglected to contact her afterwards. The two have an argument and Beth leaves the party. Not long after, a violent explosion erupts in the distance and people leave their apartments and run into the street in mass confusion and paranoia. It soon becomes apparent that there's a giant monster attacking the city, and a group of party patrons including Rob, his brother, his brother's fiance, one of their friends, and Hud (who brings the camera and tapes the events because "people are gonna wanna know how it all went down") head out towards Brooklyn to escape.

This is where I started to dislike this movie. At this point, Rob gets a call from Beth and she explains that she's trapped in her apartment. Rob becomes preoccupied with the idea of getting to midtown to save Beth as opposed to saving his own life. On top of that, the other group members don't give a whole lot of consideration to what a bad idea this is, especially since they themselves don't have any real reason to go other than the fact that Rob is going. The conversation that elapses is something like this:

"I have to go to midtown to save Beth."
"Rob, that's crazy, you can't do that, you'll be killed."
"I have to save Beth."
"OK, I guess we'll go too."

God forbid the writer try and provide some justification as to why the other characters would want to go. Other than Rob, none of them seem too attached to Beth in any notable way, and even if they were, it's very hard to believe they would face an unspeakably horrible death just to possibly save her. It's just not logical for them to abandon their own survival instincts at the drop of the hat. I can willingly accept the concept of a hideous monster attacking the city, however what I will not accept is the ease of which the characters disregard the severity of the situation, particularly in this scene. For the most part, the characters seemingly aren't at all phased by the monster, even when they're in direct proximity of it. Rob seems to be much more afraid of the possibility that Beth will die without her knowing how he feels, and the others are just there for fun and to "show how it all went down." I'm well aware that this, like my other main qualm with the movie, is essential to the movie's existence, as without it there wouldn't be a film, but I would have enjoyed it more if they made the group a little more conscious of the severity of the situation and provided a deeper rationale for the trip to midtown to make it a little more convincing.

The other aspect of the movie that I can't seem to get over is how and when the camera was used. It's like organized chaos. The camera is shaky at some points (even during the calm scenes in the party) yet surprisingly stable during such life threatening instances as the Brooklyn Bridge collapsing with the cameraman on it, a scene in a subway tunnel when the group is attacked by smaller monsters, and another scene where the group navigates the top of a semi-collapsed skyscraper to the top of Beth's building. Regardless of the imminent danger he's in, Hud, who has the camera for the majority of the film remains dedicated to documenting the events and decides not to turn the camera off, put it down, or even move it away from the focus of action. It's almost as if he knows what's being taped is a Hollywood production so he's not at all troubled by what he sees. It's too hard for me to believe that the cameraman runs for his life holding the camera in front of his face at all times. This is another one of things that's necessary for the movie's existence but definitely a production flaw. If it didn't happen, the movie would be 80 minutes of erratic sidewalk footage and 10 minutes of a surprise party for a guy you don't know. Also, if you're like me the constant movement in the scenes might make you sick. I left the theater somewhat dizzy and had to sit down.

Overall, Cloverfield is a film with a unique concept that could have been better with a few alterations. At it's core, it's not much more than a new take on the formulaic 'monster' genre and has a rather predictable ending.