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Ed & I took some time off yesterday & we went to see the new JJ Abrahams film Cloverfield. It was released yesterday here in Australia (17 January), and we caught the 3.10pm session at Noosa 5 Cinema (Noosa Junction).

We were out a bit after 4.30pm. Running time for the film itself was about 85 minutes.

Firstly, the monster is absolutely awesome. It looks like a big (big as in 10 stories tall) louse, and it drops baby lice wherever it goes. And the effects are stunning - the monster looks like it belongs in each frame, and the mayhem it creates as it works its way across Manhattan, getting more and more pissed as it goes (who wouldn’t be pissed, getting shot at like that?) looks totally authentic.

Remember way back when Alien got released, and we were teased with part shots of the Alien before it got fully revealed? Well the Cloverfield monster is just as scary looking, just as “guessed at, only part seen” in the first parts of the film, and about 200x more frightening.

Don’t take young kids - the ones in our session were a bit wide-eyed when they left the cinema.

The plot itself however isn’t about the monster. The monster isn’t explained, it’s just there creating havoc. And this spares us from any banal moralising - no French nuclear test mutations, no Japanese whale hunts, no Hawaiian plastic bag whirlpools.

For me the film was about the reactions of normal people in an abnormal situation. From the cheating boyfriend who suddenly discovers chivalry, to the looters who grab stuff they can’t carry, to mob panic, to hard-arsed military intervention - it’s all portrayed in a way that makes it feel authentic. Behind all this you have a raving mad monster trashing every building it passes and dropping lice babies in the process.

The hand-held camera technique works well. Can make you dizzy, and I had to wonder at the single-mindedness of the guy carrying the camera amongst all the drama (I would’ve dropped the thing & ran the other direction). But it reinforced the immediacy of the situation, and didn’t get in the way of the action at all.

I loved this film. When it comes out, it’s a definite DVD purchase for me. Thumbs up for a great cinema experience!