CLOVERFIELD 2008 (PARAMOUNT)

Strange but interesting film that belongs in the "hand held camera" genre.

The film opens with the fact that this is "found footage" of a disaster that happened and it is now the property of the US Government.

The footage revolves around a group of people gathered in a New York apartment for a farewell party for a friend who has landed a new job in Japan. As the party goes on you are introduced to some of the main characters.

Suddenly, without warning an oil tanker is sunk and a huge explosion rocks the city. After that the movie moves into full gear as a huge monster, which is never explained starts going on a rampage and destrpying Manhatten. It's a pretty interesting looking monster and the fact that nobody knows where it came from just adds to the tension.

The military arrives but they cannot stop the monster and several of the people at the party go on an ill advised rescue to help a girlfriend trapped in her apartment.

The huge monster also drops strange spider-like beasts off of it's skin and that poses another problem all together. These little creatures have a very infectious bite that kills within minutes, and the death isn't a pretty one, as we find out when one of the characters is bitten.

The action never stops right up until the final frame with two survivng lovers hiding in central park when all of Manhatten is destroyed by the military in a last ditch attempt to destory the rampaging monster.

The movie is a great roller coaster ride and has many great set pieces that will make you jump if you're a first time viewer of the film. Some of the characters you really begin to care about, but they still feel very detached simply because of how the movie was shot.

After 12 years there has been no announcement of a direct sequel to the film, and that is probably a good thing, because usually sequels never work. All the viewer knows is that the footage was found and everyone apparently was killed, but we never know if the strange monster was destroyed.

I do recommend you check the movie out if you've never seen it. It's a good little movie. My only complaint is that it was "hand held" and not a usual movie, but you can't have everything.

One of the films stars really stood out and that is the beautiful Jessica Lucas.