Watched Cloverfield tonight. Before I spoil my fresh impression of the movie by absorbing internet opinions, reviews and criticisms, let me just say first off that I really enjoyed the movie. I think the thing I liked most is that for a survival/horror/monster movie, it actually didn’t use stupid, pedestrian directing techniques to generate cheap scares. You know the type, where the booming background soundtrack would cease, the camera zooms close over near/over the protagonist’s shoulder, all you could hear is his/her heavy breathing in a dark environment, then moments later (length of such “suspenseful” moments proportional to how much of a douchebag the director is), BOOM, some creature launches it/his/herself at the protagonist, the background music floods in and the audience is startled. It’s amazing how much I hate that.

Cloverfield doesn’t have such bullshit because it doesn’t have background music as its completely filmed in first person. Speaking of first person perspective, I was a little iffy about the whole shaky handheld camera style, having seen the dizzying lameness that was The Blair Witch Project. However, Cloverfield isn’t much hindered by it, though sometimes, I guess for realism sakes, the camera does swing to an alarming degree.

I guess the only minor gripe I have about the movie is that I do want to know more about the… thing that caused so much havoc and the movie doesn’t really provide for it. Of course the point of the movie ISN’T about the thing but about the people who are trying to survive but still, a tad unfulfilling in that respect. Other than that, the movie was enjoyably suspenseful and scary throughout.