One of my long-held beliefs when it comes to film is that it's impossible to care about the human characters in a monster movie. After all, the monster is the star, and is usually what we have come to see. Sure, it usually doesn't get its name above the title, but its name is usually somewhere in the title itself. Cloverfield changes the rules. The humans are the stars this time around, as the movie is seen through the eyes of a group of people caught in the middle of a monster attack. It is shot entirely through the eyes of a handheld camera, and although this obviously limits the filmmakers with what they can do, they make every moment of the film's brief and mostly tense 84 minute running time. Cloverfield goes beyond simply being a gimmick, and ends up being a film experiment that succeeds for the most part.

The creature that eventually attacks New York City remains a mystery for the entire film, which I feel is for the best. After all, the movie is told from the point of view of the victims. They don't know what it is, where it came from, or what they should do. There are no ominous signs, no warnings, and no reason for them to think that anything will be different. At the start of the film, we are watching a farewell party for Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David). He's taken a job where he'll be Vice President for a company in Japan. All of his friends and well-wishers are there, and we see them leaving personal farewell messages for him. The party introduces us to the characters we will be following. The man behind the camera is Hud (T.J. Miller), Rob's best friend. Other characters gathered include Rob's brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and Jason's girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas). There's another girl named Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), whom Hud is infatuated with, and an old flame of Rob's named Beth (Odette Yustman), who stirs up some controversy when she show up at the party with a new man, even though everyone knows that Rob has strong feelings for her. The mostly festive mood is interrupted when what appears to be a massive earthquake rattles the entire city. Seconds later, fireballs are raining from the sky, skyscrapers are crumbling, and the Statue of Liberty's head has found a new home in the middle of the street outside Rob's apartment building after some unseen force tears it right off.

One of the appeals of Cloverfield's approach is that it really does put you in the middle of the action with its documentary style. We learn the facts along with the characters, and what we learn is usually very vague or government-approved speculation from the news media and military soldiers that start swarming into the city to combat the menace. It's impossible to watch some of the images and not think of September 11th, especially a scene where it shows a group of people running from a massive cloud of dust, debris, and smoke pouring down the street after a building topples to the ground. It does not dwell on real world parallels, nor does it focus on the creature. Aside from a few fleeting glances, the creature attacking the city remains mainly unseen. We do get to see the large parasitic insects that drop off the creature, and scurry about, creating chaos of their own. The fact the effects are mostly unseen is not to say the movie looks cheap, or that the special effects are questionable. Despite a fairly modest $25 million budget, the design and execution on the monsters is top class from what we get to see. There is a sense of chaos that director Matt Reeves (The Pallbearer) creates by showing us the action through the camera lens held by a man who is fearing for his life. The man, and his companions, are watching the world fall apart around them, and we're right there with them. I liked the sense that although there is a credited screenwriter (Drew Goddard), the movie has a mostly unscripted and completely improvised tone to it. The characters frequently talk at the same time, step on each other's lines, and their reactions to being thrown into such a situation seems natural. They argue and debate their courses of actions, attempt different means of escape, and slowly come to realize that maybe hope isn't coming.

It'd be easy to peg the film as a sort of Godzilla meets Blair Witch Project, but there's more to it than that. At the center of Cloverfield is a love story that drives most of the action and emotion of the story. When Rob receives a distressing voice mail message from Beth, he becomes determined to track her down before he starts looking for a way out of the city. While it may sound like a contrived way to keep the characters in the middle of the action instead of high tailing it out of Manhattan as quickly as possible (after all, we wouldn't have much of a movie if they did that), the movie takes advantage of this aspect by including a bookend sequence of the two characters in happier times before the attack, and also before their recent personal differences. It adds another layer to the story, and helps it stand out from being simply a movie with a gimmick. There is also some individual moments of surprising power, such as when Rob is forced to give his mother some news when she calls him on his cell phone. We only get to hear one side of the conversation, but the reaction on the face of actor Michael-Stahl David is all we need. That it manages to take time for such personal moments is surprising, as the movie seldom if ever seems to slow down. Once the first tremors of the monster's arrival are felt, the movie plows full speed ahead into its premise, and gives us a haunting, terrifying, and surprisingly heartfelt depiction of a small group of people just trying to survive what seems like the end of the world.

And yes, the movie is effectively creepy, mainly through its use of imagery and sound. The creature may mainly lurk just out of sight for most of the running time, but its presence is constantly felt. The images of the post-apocalyptic New York are also undeniably eerie, and manages to add to the overall emotion. A lot of what creates the illusion of reality are the performers, who are all relatively unknowns, but create real personas that we can cling to. We only learn a little about these people, but this is intentional, as it's only set during a couple hours in their lives. The film is quite frequently unflinching, putting the characters through the emotional and physical wringer in different ways. We may not know much about them, but the powerful and very human performances of the entire cast help us get involved even more with the story. What's perhaps most effective of all is how the movie constantly plays with us and the characters. There are no rules in this monster movie, and since these people are all just bystanders to something much bigger than they could ever understand, we know about as much as they do about what's going to happen to them. Despite the film's PG-13 rating, it does not shy away from carnage and horrifying imagery. Remember all those Godzilla movies that would show the creatures knocking down buildings? For once, we get to go inside and see the aftermath of one of those buildings.

Ever since the cryptic teaser trailer made its debut last summer (back when the film didn't even have a title), speculation has run rampant about Cloverfield. As the details started to emerge, I was intrigued, but thought there was no way the filmmakers could pull it off successfully. I am proud to say they have succeeded. The movie is quick, dirty fun that doesn't stick around for very long, but leaves a surprising impression. This is the rare early year release treat that is much better than it probably has any right to be. It's a grand piece of entertainment that not only pays tribute to the monster genre, but also pays respect to its audience by having more brain and heart than one would expect walking in.

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