Produced by Lost boy J.J. Abrams, and directed by Matt Reeves (partner with Abrams on the TV series Felicity), Cloverfield takes place on one fateful Manhattan night, when Rob (Michael Stahl-David) gets a surprise party, and best friend Hud (T.J. Miller) gets to hold the camcorder as he gathers testimonials from friends in the room. Then Beth (Odette Yustman) shows up in a shimmering minidress, and it becomes clear that she and Rob have a history together.
And then the whole building shakes - an earthquake? a terrorist attack? - and Rob, Beth and Hud, along with the sort-of-sulky Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), the perky Lily (Jessica Lucas), and Rob's brother Jason (Mike Vogel), are out in the street, running for their lives, while Whatever That Is spits fireballs and gets shot at by the National Guard.
Cloverfield unfolds entirely from the point of view of the camcorder clutched by Hud, capturing the nightmarish events in herky-jerky, every-which-way ways. This voyeuristic, "reality"-like approach works surprisingly well, and makes the screenwriter's job (Drew Goddard, another Abrams associate, and Lost producer) less taxing: no need for artfully turned dialogue, for revealing insights into character. Just jokey stuff about relationships, some lame pickup lines, and then the horror, the horror.
Which can be pretty funny. Here's Hud and a fleeing companion, early on, reacting to the monster, and then to its spiderlike spawn:
Hud: It's a terrible thing!
Companion: What was that?!
Hud: I don't know. Something else, also terrible!
