Cloverfield

I went to see Cloverfield tonight. I don't really know what to think about it, other than maybe I should have taken a Dramamine beforehand. I would say that I only suffer from mildish motion sickness, but after about 15 minutes of the horribly shaky video footage, I had a major headache and felt like I was going to hurl any minute. I still feel sick. That said, it was a pretty good movie, but I don't know if it was worth the $20 spent or the nausea.

Before going into the movie, I already had a love/hate relationship with J. J. Abrams. I am a loyal LOST fan, but there are days, especially during that whole "tailie" storyline, when I want to strangle Mr. Abrams for asking more questions than he answers. In true Abrams fashion, that's exactly what happens with this movie. In the end, I was left a little ... unsatisfied. With all the buzz surrounding Cloverfield, I went into the theater with a lot of questions. And I left the theater with even more unanswered questions. Oh J. J., why must you torture your fans?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the movie was bad. There were some positive aspects. First, the few glimpses that we did get of the "monster" were pretty satisfying. Granted, we have no idea what the thing is or where it came from, but it looks pretty cool and has some rather interesting characteristics. (I can only wish J. J. would do the same thing with the mysterious "black smoke" on the island.) There was also an underlying love story (I'm not going to say how that ends) for those people who aren't that into suspense. One thing the movie did do well was suspense. I was never quite sure what was going to happen next. There were even times when I wasn't quite sure what was happening at all.

So, to wrap it all up, I'm kind of ambivalent about Cloverfield at the moment. I'm not one of those people who is going to spend hours and hours on the Internet visiting viral sites to try and figure out the "broader concept" of the movie, so if I have to do that to get the full story, then Mr. Abrams has left me a little disappointed. However, if J. J. is planning on following in the footsteps of the Godzilla franchise and making more Cloverfield movies, then I might keep watching, hoping for some sort of resolution. I do, after all, still religiously follow LOST. I am putting my movie/television faith in J. J. Abrams and hoping his "master plot" does not disappoint.