Product Description

Michael Stahl-david, Lizzy Caplan, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman, Jessica Lucas Director: Matt Reeves

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4259 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-09-08
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the first things a viewer notices about Cloverfield is that it doesn't play by ordinary storytelling rules, making this intriguing horror film as much a novelty as an event. Told from the vertiginous point-of-view of a camcorder-wielding group of friends, Cloverfield begins like a primetime television soap opera about young Manhattanites coping with changes in their personal lives. Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is leaving New York to take an executive job at a company in Japan. At his goodbye party in a crowded loft, Rob’s brother Jason (Mike Vogel) hands a camcorder to best friend Hud (T.J. Miller), who proceeds to tape the proceedings over old footage of Rob’s ex-girlfriend, Beth (Odette Yustman)--images shot during happy times in that now-defunct relationship. Naturally, Beth shows up at the party with a new beau, bumming Rob out completely. Just before one's eyes glaze over from all this heartbreaking stuff (captured by Hud, who's something of a doofus, in laughably shaky camerawork), the unexpected happens: New York is suddenly under attack from a Godzilla-like monster stomping through midtown and destroying everything and everybody in sight. Rob and company hit the streets, but rather than run with other evacuees, they head toward the center of the storm so that Rob can rescue an injured Beth. There are casualties along the way, but the journey into fear is fascinating and immediate if emotionally remote--a consequence of seeing these proceedings through the singular, subjective perspective of a camcorder and of a story that intentionally leaves major questions unanswered: Who or what is this monster? Where did it come from? The lack of a backstory, and spare views of the marauding creature, are clever ways by producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves to keep an audience focused exclusively on what’s on the screen. But it also makes Cloverfield curiously uninvolving. Ultimately, Cloverfield, with its spectacular effects brilliantly woven into a home-video look, is a celebration of infinite possibilities in this age of accessible, digital media. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
A highly-classified video tape confiscated by the U.S. military shows the devastating effects of a monster attack on New York City. Crudely shot on handycam by a group of friends at a party, the film quickly evolves into a blow-by-blow account of the most surreal and terrifying ordeal of their young lives. The first 20 minutes or so could easily be mistaken for some glossy American soap opera, populated as it is by successful, good-looking people. As the camera clumsily weaves its way around the party guests, we're treated to snippets of conversations that provide a back story to the characters' lives. Suddenly and without warning, a series of earth-shattering tremors rock the city, causing mass panic in the streets below. It soon becomes apparent that this is no natural disaster as the city is ripped apart by some gargantuan and malevolent force.
Creature features such as this are often only as good as their special effects will allow, and Cloverfield scores very highly in that department. The visuals are simply stunning and so seamlessly executed that they'll have you ducking for cover. In fact, some of the effects are so uncomfortably realistic--buildings collapsing into plumes of smoke, bits of debris falling from the sky--that they will inevitably evoke painful memories of 9/11. The filmmakers were careful not to reveal the monster too early on in the film, as the anticipation of seeing it for the first time is half the fun. Instead, they tease the viewer with flashes of a giant tail or leg in between skyscrapers. This makes the final reveal that much more satisfying, as the unknown becomes known. But where the film tantalises, it also frustrates as it offers no answers to the most obvious questions; what is this thing? How did it suddenly appear out of nowhere? What's its beef with New York City? Ironically, it's this very inscrutability that makes the film so intriguing, as we are reminded that wanton acts of destruction--such as the terrorist attacks of 9/11--always leave questions unanswered. Shot in real-time in a cinema verite style similar to The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield's exploitation of the digital video format is a bold move that pays off handsomely.

Customer Reviews

It's a monster movie, pure and simple.
Many reviewers didn't love Cloverfield due to a lack of substance in the characters and others questioning why the guy didn't just drop the camera to begin with considering the situation. However, I can't help but feel when considering what sort of film we're witnessing, where is the harm in suspending one's belief system and allowing ourselves to believe and be absorbed? The hectic camera and the incredible special effects come together so well, I find it hard to believe that anyone could claim that Cloverfield, at the very least, isn't a ground breaking movie that pulls out all the stops. Cloverfield was never meant to be anything but a straight up monster film, and that's exactly what it is. Incredible from start to finish, and even better when watched in high definition.

Movie: 3.5/5 Picture Quality: 2.5~4.5/5 Sound Quality: 5/5 Extras: 4.25/5
Version: U.S.A / Region Free
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
VC-1 BD-50

Running time: 1:24:40
Movie size: 24,852,836,352 bytes
Disc size: 42,219,444,202 bytes
Average video bit rate: 30.42 Mbps
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) English
Dolby Digital 5.1 640 Kbps French / Spanish / Portuguese
Subtitles: English / English SDH / French / Spanish / Portuguese

#Director's Commentary
#Cloverfield Visual Effects (HD, 23 minutes)
#The Making of Cloverfield (HD, 28 minutes)
#I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge! (HD, 6 minutes)
#Deleted Scenes (HD, 3 minutes)
#Alternate Endings (HD, 5 minutes)
#Clover Fun (HD, 4 minutes)
#Viral Videos
#X Creatures
#Military Cast

Total and Utter Rubbish!
What a load of rubbish. The blair witch meets godzilla. And the same hand held poor quality video camera idea. So the picture is never stable - there are a few shots where the special effects are allowed to work. Otherwise you spend most of the movie waiting with baited breath for the 'heroine' to be killed. She is that whiney and stupid that she really didn't deserve to live beyond the opening sequences!

I don't understand why this movie got such 'rave' reviews. The storyline is bad, the characters are mostly weak. and the blair witch camera work makes is uncomfortable to watch - maybe that explains why it was so cheap in the shop where I bought it! I kept watching in the hopes that it would return to normal camera work and a better story, but no the only relief in this move is when the credits start rolling!

A complete waste of money on bluray because the jumpy picture can never benefit from HD!