Review: "Cloverfield"

There's been a ton of buzz about "Cloverfield." The movie, which opened Jan. 18, has been generating considerable viral interest through teasers, trailers and Web sites, some of which were made to misdirect and mislead.

Does the movie live up to the hype? Depends on how you look at it. If you're looking for something totally original, this isn't it. It's a piecing together of elements from other monster movies: a little bit of "Alien," a lot of "Godzilla" and a dash of "E.T." thrown in for good measure. Layer that over with the style of "The Blair Witch Project," and improbably, a little bit of "Friends."

The concept is that this is amateur video shot of a disaster in New York City. The faux documentary introduces us to a circle of young and careless Manhattanites: Rob (Michael Stahl-David), his brother Jason (Mike Vogel), Jason's girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas), Rob's best friend Hud (T.J. Miller) and the girl Hud has his eye on, Marlena (Lizzy Caplan). Thrown into the mix is the beautiful Beth (Odette Yustman), whom Rob is in love with but can't seem to tell.

Mostly it's Hud manning the camera, so almost everything is seen from his point of view. Talked into making a party video for Rob, he becomes a kind of reporter as the action develops, capturing the panic in the streets, the glimpses of something huge and horrible in the distance, the explosions and carnage. He and others from the party flee the disaster in the making, only to be turned back into danger when Rob becomes determined to save the injured Beth.

It's not too unlike "Godzilla" plotwise, but giving it all a fresh twist is the amateur video POV. It feels very much like it's unfolding before our eyes. Some consider this an allegory for the damage inflicted on 9/11; however you feel about that, there's no denying that the footage was deliberately made to evoke the terror and panic of that day, from the exploding buildings to the bits of paper fluttering from the sky. You can't help but remember.