Cloverfield - There's a monster? I was busy trying to see straight.

J.J. Abrams is the man behind the hit secret agent series "Alias", the mystery island super hit "Lost" oh and "Felicity".

He is also the man who directed "Mission: Impossible III" and the man who has been trusted by Paramount to revive the near dead Star Trek franchise with a reimagining of the beloved (not by me) original crew.

And he's something of a marketing genius. If he's not the man who invented viral marketing he's something the man who took it to the next level. Here on the 'net' Lost alone has enough web sites with hoops to jump through designed to enrich your experience with the show. Or to just plain drive you insane.

He's done much the same with his latest effort as a producer. Except at first he went the opposite. The trailer debuted sometime in the summer if I remember correctly and it gained an immediate buzz. And fueling this buzz? The fact that there was zero information to be had about this movie. So the buzz continued to build as information was slowly trickled out to the eager online community. Until finally, the movie was released and we all got to see the spectacle of New York under siege by a creature from the ocean depths (maybe).

Directed by Matt Reeves and written by Drew Goddard this movie is a success on almost every level. So what level is it not a success on? Well, it's almost unwatchable. But not in the way you might be thinking that I mean.

The first person/ man on the street perspective of a monster attack on NYC is actually a brilliant idea. It's something that has rarely been done before and it sure as heck hasn't been done in nearly as fun a manner as this.
The problem, in my estimation, is the hand-held camcorder/man on the run camera work employed by one of the characters as he documents these events as he and his friends attempt to flee the city, but not until one of them finds the girl he's in love with so he can tell her how he feels (a whole 'nother ball of wax right there).
I spent more time during the movie fighting off a headache then being able to really sink my teeth into the idea of some kind of aqua-beast ravaging the big apple. And that's really a shame because this movie does so many things correctly in it's story that to be distracted by shoddy framing and piss-poor camera work get my blood in a boil.

I think there is a lot to enjoy about this film, but if you get motion sickness in the least I'd advise you to stay away until the dvd release.
I can only hope that if a sequel is in the works, which I'm not opposed to at all, and they decide to keep the documentary style perspective, again not opposed to in theory, perhaps they could find Morgan Spurlocke do set-up the steady cam and save me five bucks on the aspirin I'll need afterward.

And so you know, the monter's is very cool looking and the subway scene is fun if somewhat predictable.