On the eve of his departure for Japan, Rob sees his going-away party as an opportunity to confess unresolved feelings and tie up loose ends. However, his agenda takes an unexpected turn when a jolt shakes the revellers. The crowd quiets down to watch news reports of an earthquake, then rushes to the roof to assess the damage. A fireball explodes on the distant horizon. A power failure follows. Confusion gives way to panic as the partygoers stumble through the blackout and into the streets. Shot entirely through the group’s camcorder, the shaky camera action further heightens the sense of terror as the six young friends attempt to stay one step ahead of an unknown - and seemingly unstoppable - force that is rampaging its way through New York City...

Cloverfield is a rare breed of movie. If you know what it's all about then the majority of the build up is lost. In fact, this was a clever tactic used by the studio to market the movie - in that very little of the plot was given away in the original marketing. You know there's a disaster in the centre of New York but whether it's a terrorist attack, a natural disaster or even an invasion from outer space was kept a closely guarded secret. This was even used on set, as it would seem that the actors themselves weren't entirely sure of the movie's plot on the first day of shooting.

I was a little apprehensive about watching this movie. I wasn't particularly looking forward to viewing an entire film that was filmed as though the participants had been using a camcorder. I was expecting the whole experience to be a little disorienting and distracting, but the truth is that after a few minutes I hardly noticed.

Very rarely am I truly shocked or surprised by movies these days, but Cloverfield managed to do both on more than a couple of occasions over its duration. If you're coming to this movie totally cold, and unaware of what the threat is, then you're in for a treat. This is a film that works best when the viewer is unsure of what to expect.

For the most part this movie is a great success. This is one film where the acting isn't much of an issue - as there's very little to really stretch the cast. They're mainly there to react to the visual effects and run around New York. Okay, that's strictly a little unfair. The opening scenes, where we are introduced to the characters at Rob's surprise leaving party, show that all the cast can act, but then listening to the director's audio commentary it would appear that the cast hung out together and when they were required to film their scenes the process was pretty easy - with improvisation being encouraged.

This DVD is released as a single and double disc edition.

The single disc release (and the first disc in the 2-disc collection) includes the movie; an audio commentary with the director Matt Reeves; and Cloverfield - Supplemental Files (when this feature is activated additional material can be viewed by using your remote control when an image of a battery charge metre appears on screen during the main movie).

Disc two includes Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield (37 min, 11 sec behind the scenes featurette that has many interesting segments. I particularly liked the code named Cheese section that examined how quickly the locals in New York realised that the production company were filming this mysterious new movie (with the codename Cheese), and that in minutes video footage was already up on the Internet); Cloverfield Visual Effects (21 min, 36 sec breakdown of the movie's most impressive visual effects scenes); I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge! (5 min, 37 sec look at the movie's main threat); Clover Fun (3 min, 49 sec of outtakes); Deleted Scenes (3 min, 22 sec of cut scenes with optional commentary with the director; and Alternate Endings (4 min, 22 sec look at two alternate endings - which aren't that much different - with optional commentary with the director). Apparently there's at least one Easter Egg somewhere on the disc, but I didn't even bother to hunt for it.

Paramount is a bit naughty selling this as a single and double disc release. The RRP of the single disc is £20 while the 2-disc edition is £23. It's obvious that the contents of the second disc would have easily fitted onto the first DVD with bags of room to spare. This seems to be a tactic that quite a lot of studios are trying at the moment (Beowulf and I am Legend being perfect examples of DVDs released in 2008 that try and bleed more money out of punters by spreading thin content over two discs). It almost makes me look back nostalgically at the early days of DVDs, when movies like The Mummy and The Matrix were packed to bursting with loads of content on a single disc. Nowadays an audio commentary and a short featurette is all that some studios manage to turn out - adding less than an hour's worth of material on a second disc.

To be honest I'd plump for the single disc release. The second disc isn't overly exciting and there's nothing on there that I'd watch again.

This is certainly a release I'd recommend buying - there's certainly enough here to ensure repeat viewings are rewarding. Sure the characters are a little two-dimensional, and some of the scenes are a little cliched (drawing from every disaster movie ever made) but the end product is well worth your time.

8

Darren Rea