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Cloverfield
2008 85 min United States of America PG-13 16+
★7.0
Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
Director: Matt Reeves
Trailers
EN
Teaser
Teaser
Description
Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.
Budget:
$25M
US Gross:
$80.05M
Worldwide:
$170.76M
Starring
Mike Vogel
Actor
Jessica Lucas
Actor
Lizzy Caplan
Actor
Awards
Saturn Awards 2008
— Best Science Fiction Film
Saturn Awards 2008
— Best Supporting Actress
Georges Awards 2009
— Best Blockbuster
Key opinion
Cloverfield is a divisive found-footage disaster film that polarizes audiences through its commitment to a subjective, shaky-cam perspective. While many praise its immersive, ground-level realism and unique atmosphere, others criticize its thin plot, illogical character decisions, and motion-sickness-inducing cinematography.
| Cinematography | The found-footage style successfully creates an immersive, high-stakes sense of realism and presence. | |
| Originality | The film effectively strips away traditional hero archetypes, focusing instead on relatable, peripheral characters in the midst of a catastrophe. | |
| Score | The sound design is highly visceral, effectively conveying the scale and terror of the disaster. | |
| Screenplay | The plot is largely viewed as banal or underdeveloped, relying on a simple mission that lacks deep narrative resolution. | |
| Cinematography | The shaky-cam aesthetic is a major point of contention; some find it a masterful tool for intensity, while others find it disorienting, confusing, and physically nauseating. | |
| Screenplay | Character motivations are frequently criticized as illogical, with many questioning the characters' compulsive need to continue filming during life-or-death situations. |