The buzz on Cloverfield has been building for quite some time, thanks to an extensive Internet marketing campaign that featured a variety of puzzles and hidden websites. Fans have been going crazy tracking down every scrap of information they can find on this mysterious film. With relatively few facts coming to light, expectations are surely running high. The big question has to be: Can creator J.J. Abrams and Cloverfield deliver the goods?

The plot is a simple one. A group of friends throw a surprise going-away party for their friend Rob at his Manhattan apartment. The story is told from the point-of-view of a handheld camera used to record the festivities. While the party is underway, events are interrupted by what seems to be a brief earthquake. As everyone rushes outside to see what’s happening, explosions in the distance and debris raining down—including the head of the Statue of Liberty—suggest that there’s more going on than a natural phenomenon.

Still unsure what’s really going on, crowds of people start evacuating Manhattan using the Brooklyn Bridge. As Rob and his friends begin crossing, the bridge is attacked by what appears to be a giant tentacle and they are forced to retreat back into the city and run for their lives.

The cast in Cloverfield is made up mostly of obscure television actors who are, for the most part, disposable. The best you can say is that their performances aren’t distracting; but honestly, they’re really only called on to scream and run a lot. We’re introduced to the main players during the long, boring opening sequences at the party. The idea is probably that the audience will bond with the characters during this time; but frankly, the characters are so shallow and one-dimensional that I never really cared, and the sequence just served to delay the onset of the action.

Of course, this is a monster movie so the character we really care about is… the monster. The good news in Cloverfield is that the special effects are outstanding. We’ve come a long way from a person in a rubber suit stomping through a scale model of Tokyo, and progress shows here. At first we only get brief glances at the creature marauding through New York City, but rest assured you will see it fully as things progress. And when you do, I think you’ll find it as amazingly realistic and visually unique as I do.

So what we have here then, is a mixed bag. Cloverfield has an interesting-looking monster and really excellent visual effects. The choice to have the entire film shot from the point of view of a hand held camera has pros and cons. It does provide a degree of immersion in the action, but we’re subjected to far too much jiggle, shake, motion-blur, and oddly-framed shots. Restricting the story to this single point of view also means we never learn anything that the characters themselves don’t discover, so the bigger story going on is hidden from us. Don’t expect to find out anything about the origins of the monster or what’s happening elsewhere in the city.

My biggest issue, though, is that I just didn’t find Cloverfield all that scary. The tension never ramps up high enough to generate those audible gasps in the theater when the unexpected happens. The action is too predictable; you always see it coming and thus are never surprised. The result isn’t a completely awful movie, but one that just seems a bit mediocre. The only real attraction winds up being a few brief shots of a fantastically rendered monster laying waste to New York. It’s kind of a fast food version of a classic monster flick—not as satisfying as you’d like and over far too quickly.

Cloverfield is rated PG-13 for “violence, terror and disturbing images.” It’s an interesting choice. The rating is accurate and it does open up the film to a wider audience. At the same time, it also detracts from the film by creating a somewhat antiseptic experience. I can assure you, if I ever find myself chased by a creature the size of a building I will probably let slip a few R-rated phrases as I run.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Michael attended a promotional screening of Cloverfield.