High concept: Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project in post-9/11 New York. Much secrecy surrounded this production and the buzz from snippets on the Web fueled curiosity. I, for one, had serious misgivings. As soon as the film was released to theaters, complaints arose concerning the dizzying cinematography. I’m not a fan of vertigo-inducing handheld camera techniques; I even found the jiggly NYPD Blue camerawork a bit annoying. So my expectations were low as I spun up this newest and frequently visited monster-eats-city concept.

The filmmakers wisely try to get the audience to invest emotionally in the main characters during the opening sequence. Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) is a young New York professional who’s accepted a career enhancing job in Japan (no small coincidence considering the producer’s inspiration). His brother, Jason (Mike Vogel), has organized a surprise going away party. Best friend Hud (T.J. Miller) is tasked with capturing the party and guests’ best wishes with a camcorder. Jason’s girl, Lily (Jessica Lucas) pitches in. Rob’s friend since childhood is Beth (Odette Yustman), and when she turns up with a date, it’s clear that more is going on between them than either is willing to admit. To complete the roster of principal characters, Hud is attracted to quirky partygoer Marlena (Lizzy Caplan, who reminded me of a young Zooey Deschanel with attitude).

The stage is now set for the first attack. The party is interrupted by ground shaking rumbles and a glimpse of something strange many blocks away; everyone rushes to the windows and then to the roof. A huge blast casts flaming debris skyward, a dangerous display of pyrotechnics that comes raining down.

Now, this isn’t like the prehistoric monster that attacked New York after being awakened by an Arctic nuclear test in The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. We never understand this monster’s origins or see it immerge from the sea. We can only assume its watery access to the city based on the decapitation of the Statue of Liberty (no spoiler - that image is on the cover of the keepcase). The monster simply appears in downtown Manhattan, a 350-foot long ugly with friends. It’s time to flee, but our brave band must run in the wrong direction.

Rob and Beth shared some harsh words at the party and she left early. Beth lives in the embattled area, she left a desperate message on Rob’s cell phone voicemail that she’s trapped in her apartment, and these twenty-somethings decide to support Rob as he sets off to rescue her. They duck through a hail of fire from Army ground troops and armor. They find themselves dangerously close to the beast. This is a battle of attrition and humans are losing. And all the while, Hud is documenting their experiences. In fact, the premise of this film is that his digital tape was found in Central Park and became highly classified (there’s no indication how Paramount got its hands on it).

The plotline couldn’t be simpler: survive. The entertainment value is in the execution. Director Matt Reeves reveals the creature slowly, essential to establishing and maintaining tension. At first we only see a glimpse of a massive flank, and with each succeeding attack or encounter, we get to see a bit more. The shaky and panicky unsteady camera moves distort our views, further denying us the visual details we crave. That camera motion is the most annoying aspect of the film. Viewers vulnerable to motion sickness are advised to take their Dramamine before loading the disc. I suppose it’s perfectly reasonable to expect bumps and swirls from a camera operator running for his life, but it gets really tiresome. So we’re simply left with a huge gimmick that, I begrudgingly admit, works reasonably well.

Cloverfield’s stars are not big names and that also works in the film’s favor. They are personable and effective and they make it easy for the audience to identify with their characters. Better known actors would have detracted from the premise of an amateur recording made by average young adults. The writing is quite reasonable, with few lapses to collapse the willing suspension of disbelief (although one absurd decision to evacuate a healthy woman instead of an obviously injured one left me scratching my head, as did another silliness of an evacuation helicopter pilot taking a vector parallel to the monster’s path instead of directly away from it). We do have, perhaps, a few too many coincidences. The monster seems to have singled out this little group for special attention. For such a small film, I found the CGI impressive. Both the destruction and the creature are very well executed, and I was surprised when I learned in the supplements just how many of the environments are virtual. Troubling are the images inspired by the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11.

The film evokes an overall feeling of futility; desperation on several levels can also be a bit taxing. But I was drawn into the plight of our heroes and the plight of the city. There are hints that we may not have seen the last of this monster and a quick check of the IMDB reveals that a sequel is due in 2009. What did you expect from a flick that earned over three times its estimated production cost?

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Well, now we know; that camcorder must have been one of those new fangled hi-def jobs. The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 has been opened vertically to fill the entire high definition 1.78:1 frame. The VC-1 compressed transfer is much better than I expected. Since most of the film is shot at night, you’ll find scenes with obvious electronic noise that resembles grain, but that just adds to the authentic feel. Color accuracy is excellent, with natural flesh tones, convincingly red blood, and brilliant orange-yellow fireballs. Black levels are quite good, as is shadow detail (even if some of the subway sequence was virtually completely in the dark - black is used extensively as a tool to create tension). Small object detail is excellent, as are finely grained textures. When I reviewed the DVD, I had hoped that this film would look substantially better in high definition; I was not disappointed.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is far better than its DVD counterpart. The bottom end is very impressive. Monstrous footfalls literally shook the room; I felt the bass and I heard brand new room rattles I never noticed before. There is no score, consistent with the nature of the film’s premise. Voices are surprisingly clear considering how the audio was supposed to have been recorded. The front channels can be far more active than the surrounds. But when the action kicks in, the viewer is completely immersed in lots of discrete effects and pans. Enable EX decoding for the best experience. The dynamic range is excellent, even gunfire has a bit more impact than on the DVD.

The alternate languages are in French and Spanish, both in Dolby Digital 5.1. Optional subtitles are in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

All but one of the supplements may be found on the previous DVD release, but they were produced with high definition in mind.

Director Matt Reeves may be heard in a feature- length commentary. He begins with the first of the three explanations that J.J. Abrams was impressed with the presence of Godzilla toys in Japan and wanted to create and introduce a uniquely American monster. He talks about the film’s genesis and how he was brought into the production. He delves into some of the storyline and character details, but the context is the relevance of the arcs. He explains that he did research on Utube to capture some of the feel of amateur videos and party scenes. I enjoyed his blend of the technical and comments about the performances. He’s extremely chatty and open as he reveals anecdotes from the sets, including his using unforeseen accidents to make the film seem more real. Also of interest is the influence of Steven Spielberg who made a suggestion that affected the climax. I wonder how many filmmakers attempt to take their work to the master for a critique.

Next is a clever realization of a trivia track that simultaneously displays the feature film, a map of NYC, and a window with text trivia, so it’s kind of a PiP presentation. It’s called the Special Investigation Mode and it even works on a Profile 1 player. The map tracks civilians, military personnel, and the monster during the events of the film. The factoids reveal trivia about locations, characters, and creatures. I found this extra to be well thought out and informative.

Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield (28:17, 1.78:1, 1080p) featurette begins with an interview of J.J. Abrams as he explains how he discovered that Godzilla is still a noticeable presence in Japan and his wishing that we had such a monster in the States. Interviews with the primary cast members establish a visual vocabulary that differs from the normal motion picture. We’re ushered behind the scenes to witness the shoot and the high level of secrecy the filmmakers strived for. Praise is heaped on Matt Reeves as the capable director. We see him at work with his players. J.J. Abrams is also singled out for some special treatment. We learn that a small and unique area of Los Angeles was a surrogate for New York City (although the production did do a week’s location shoot in New York). There are many other interesting details, not the least of which is a… nope, can’t reveal.

The Cloverfield Visual Effects (22:29, 1.78:1, 1080p) featurette demonstrates specific effect sequences: initial attack, Brooklyn Bridge; weapons fire; subway sequence; rooftop sequence; Grand Central Station; the landing zone; the bomb run; and, Central Park. Technical staffs from both the Double Negative digital special effects house and Tippett Studios participate. I found this revealing short to be quite fascinating, but once again, I’m reluctant to delve into detail since there is the considerable risk of spoilers. Suffice it to say that you should save this and other supplements for after viewing of the feature film

The I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge! (5:51, 1.78:1, 1080p) featurette focuses on a monster for America. This isn’t just a short about the design of a 350-foot monster intended to scare the crap out of the audience. It adds an interesting twist to the nature of the creature and the reasons for its behaviors.

Clover Fun (3:57, 1.78:1, 1080p) is the gag reel, with a combination of on-set horsing around, player crackups, and physical effects that just didn’t work.

There are four deleted scenes (3:34 aggregate, 1.78:1, 1080p), which may be played individually or sequentially, with and without director’s commentary. I can’t argue with the director’s decisions, even though I did enjoy the punch line for I Call That A Date.

There are two alternate endings (4:43 aggregate, 1.78:1, 1080p), which may be played individually or sequentially, with and without director’s commentary. Clearly, the director explains why these weren’t used, but it’s also clear that I can’t get into it.

The 84-minute film is organized into sixteen chapters.

Final Thoughts

A guilty pleasure, Cloverfield is a mindless romp in the Godzilla tradition that inspired producer J.J. Abrams. The visual and aural presentations are excellent, far better than you might expect, but with so much annoying camera motion, don’t forget to take your motion sickness meds. The supplements are both generous and informative.