Cloverfield
By Cory Peynado, Blockbuster.co.uk

“Approximately seven hours ago, some thing attacked the city. If you’ve found this, if your watching this then you know more about it than I do”

After months of speculation (six to be exact) Pandora’s box was finally opened and Cloverfield was unveiled to the world. Like nothing before it, the latest project from producer J.J. Abrams came to us shrouded in mystery, making it one of the most exciting and unique titles of the year.

Envision if you will, being sat in a movie theatre. Popcorn on the knees, bag of sweets on the floor or whatever, and during the pleasurable interlude before your feature presentation begins you are shown a small teaser trailer. No title is given and it looks like its been shot entirely with a hand held camcorder. Might not seem like much… but boy-o-boy did this tiger start some chat.

Much like the early days of the hit T.V. show Lost (Abram’s being one of the creators of that show) a wave of speculation hit the Internet. Nothing but a wink and a tapped nose was given from the producers though… they were intent on keeping the details of this project on lockdown. Even the casting process was carried out in secret, with no script being sent out to candidates.

So what were they really holding back on? Well first of all, this movie totally lives up to the super high expectations that it had set for itself. The intense story follows the happenings of four friends after a shock attack from an unidentified entity on the city of New York - ala a decapitated statue of liberty.

Robert and his friends leave the apartment they are in and try to make it across the city as he desperately wants to see if his girlfriend Beth is still alive. To give away more plot details than this would be cruel so all I’ll say is that the trip across town isn’t gonna be the easiest one he’s ever made.

Feature length “Blair Witch” style camera shaking aside, this is one of the most original movies I’ve seen in years. The adulation of seeing a multi million-dollar special effect through a battery operated ‘Argos’ style camera is unexpectedly exhilarating. Never have we felt closer to the action and for the better part of ninety minutes you are right there with them.

Speculation about it being a second Godzilla movie or a Lost tie-in have now been put to bed. This is a fresh new mind-blowing story that successfully puts a spin on the art of visual storytelling. It's fast, action packed and utterly destructive, and the ‘You Tube’ generation are about to see some captured video that they wont forget.