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Cloverfield Our rating: Rate this movie   MPAA rating: PG-13 (for violence, terror and disturbing images) Genre: Action, Horror Theater release: January 18, 2008 by Paramount Directed by: Matt Reeves Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes Cast: Michael Stahl-David (Rob Hawkins), Odette Yustman (Beth), T. J. Miller (Hud), Lizzy Caplan (Marlena), Jessica Lucas (Lily), Mike Vogel (Jason Hawkins) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Most monster or disaster films tend to have a story scale about the size of Godzilla himself. They chronicle their stories on the extreme macro level—from the perspective of scientists uncovering the origins of the situation, of military officers debating response strategy, of political leaders being briefed, and of the hero saving the day. You're the omniscient viewer seeing all sides.

Meanwhile, random extras scream and run while buildings topple and landmarks explode.

In contrast, Cloverfield could exist within one of those giant, multi-dimensional Godzilla-type movies. You'd just have to give a video camera to a random running-and-screaming extra. That guy doesn't know about any scientists. He doesn't know if this is only happening in his city. He doesn't even know what is happening to his city. He doesn't know what's doing it—or where it came from. He doesn't really care. He just wants to survive.

The film starts with a going-away party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David)

By filming a normally grand-scaled monster movie with the intimate and limited viewpoint of The Blair Witch Project, this J. J. Abrams (Alias, Lost) produced film brings intensity, freshness and a sense of personal danger to a genre that needed a kick start. In fact, this $30 million film (with surprisingly good special effects) could be a tutorial to big-budget action directors who create removed, distant and sterile big-scale movies with characters you don't care about. (I'm talking to you, Michael Bay.)

The movie begins with a Department of Defense tagline identifying the following footage as a case designated "Cloverfield." It apparently came from a camera found in U.S. 442, the area formerly known as New York's Central Park. The shaky amateur video starts as random home movies and a going-away party for Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David), a 20-something moving to Japan for a new job. His best friend, Hud (T. J. Miller), runs the camera as we meet Rob's brother, various friends and Beth (Odette Yustman), Rob's longtime crush.

And then, with a loud roar in the distance, the whole world turns upside down.

The terror ramps up in a hurry for Rob, Marlena (Lizzy Caplan) and Lily (Jessica Lucas)

What follows is an unrelenting and fast-moving gut punch of a movie as Rob and friends try to survive the attack of some sort of monster upon their city. While Blair Witch and Godzilla are obvious comparisons, the film can often tap into what it might have been like if Bill Paxton's character from Aliens had a camera with him. It's more consistently thrilling and scary than Blair Witch and more personally connected than most action films.

I've been looking forward to this movie since its massive marketing campaign began. I was looking for a fun and geeky thrill ride. It is that, but it's actually more intense, scary and personal than I assumed. It's intense because you're dropped right into the meat grinder with the characters. It's scary because it stirs very real fears within such an absurd premise—and puts you right there where just hearing things around you is more terrifying than actually seeing. And it's personal because the movie creates a connection with its characters. This horror is not happening to Some Giant City. It's happening to Rob and to Beth and to Hud.

Now, this film is no character study. Honestly, we don't know Rob or Beth or Hud or the others intimately well, but they are written so you can identify with their bonds and motivations. Filmed at such an intimate level, we see the quiet moments of tragedy, of breaking down, of awkward silence, of uncontrolled panic and of stilted conversations that might be missed in wider narratives. These people and their emotions feel real—and so the unreal they experience becomes more relatable.

Rob and Beth (Odette Yustman) record all of their movements … and fears

The key to the character development is really newcomer Stahl-David's centering performance as Rob. He seems so torn, so emotional, and so caught up in internal processing that it shows on the outside. Rob supplies the emotional ground wire to the movie—especially in the moving and dramatic dynamic that plays out between Rob and Beth. Their longing looks and telling awkwardness speak volumes about the chemistry between them—and adds a striking bittersweet edge to the film.

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