Project Cloverfield a.k.a The JJ Abrams trailer before Transformers starts.

They prescreened Cloverfield on my campus tonight. It was more or less a secret, and even then about twice as many people showed up as the auditorium would hold.

Spoiler:

Anyway, it's a very good movie in terms of cinematography and keeping a solid sense of tension, but the storyline gets a little stupid, as it revolves around one of the characters going back into the chaos to try to save his girlfriend, and his friends follow him.

The monster itself reminded me of what would happen if you combined a Predator, one of those tripod things from Half-Life 2, and a Licker from Resident Evil. It also has little mini-monsters that drop off of it, which resemble the bugs from Starship Troopers.

Also, if you easily get motion sickness, keep that in mind before you see this movie. I rarely get motion sick and there were at least a few times the shaking camera made me dizzy.

But yeah, it's a pretty intense and engaging movie for the most part, but has a pretty unsatisfying ending and at least 2 major WTF moments.

I won't ruin it, though. Still definitely worth a watch, even if it's just for the spectacle. I can imagine it would be less exciting on a smaller screen. We had to watch it via a classroom projector on a screen about 3/4 the size of a normal movie screen, and even then it was impressive.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Sorry about not using spoiler tags, I haven't been on these or any other forums in a while and I'm just getting back into the swing of things. I kinda forgot spoiler tags even existed. So, here goes a further explaination:

Spoiler:

What the monster looks like is neither important to the story or really that particularly interesting. It doesn't look like the things from War of the Worlds at all, I just mentioned the Half-Life 2 tripods because it has 2 really long, thin arms that bend at a weird angle, and gecko-ish hands. You rarely get a decent look at the thing, and I don't think its whole body is ever onscreen at once. For a while I thought it had no legs and was dragging itself along on its arms, but I'm fairly certain it was walking in the beginning, and I think it may have just been worn down by the military barrage. I'd say it more closely resembles the Lickers from Resident Evil 2 than anything else, and I mentioned the Predator because its face looked like it had a multi-segmented jaw. Otherwise it's a completely original design, so even I still have no idea what it actually was. It was just a big monster, apparently from the sea. I guess to prove that I actually saw it, I'll say that it had red things on the side of its head that puffed outwards like a frog's throat, though you don't get a good look at that until late in the movie.

But yeah, the monster isn't all that awesome looking, nor is the story very original. The movie relies entirely on its style of filming to be interesting, and it's something it pulls off incredibly well. If you're hoping to find out what the monster is, you're going to be disappointed - the entire movie is just the camera tape, aside from a brief intro detailing where the tape was found and the fact that its codename is 'Cloverfield'. The movie ends when the tape ends.

It's more or less every single giant monster movie you've ever seen, but from the perspective of the people experiencing it and not like...the military or scientists trying to find a way to stop it. Instead of cheering on the people trying to stop the monster, you feel as scared and helpless as the characters.

I guess what I'm saying is it's impossible to 'spoil' it since there's nothing much to spoil. The movie's value is in the experience of watching it and almost feeling like you're there with the characters. Even if I wrote out every plot detail for you, it wouldn't ruin the movie at all. It sounds cliché, but the movie is a rollercoaster ride.

So there. It's definitely, definitely, definitely worth seeing on the big screen. Unless you have an ultra-high quality screener and a kick-ass home theater, the impact of the movie will probably be lost on you.

Also, people seem to think I'm bullshitting them, but the movie has screened in a ton of cities already, starting on the 10th. My school gets advance screenings pretty frequently, and it screened at a bunch of colleges around the country, but I guess they requested it not be widely publicized. I only knew it was coming to my school because a friend was managing the event. Also, you're likely not going to see any leaks anytime soon, since security was insane. We all got swept by metal detectors and everyone's cellphones were confiscated, regardless of whether or not they had cameras on them (we got tickets to reclaim them after the show). There were security guards in the show, too, and it looked like they had nightvision goggles. It was pretty weird.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Spoiler:

The concept art is pretty close, though it definitely had a neck. The colors are about right, and the limbs are somewhat similar. If this is official concept art, it was probably an early draft or something.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Spoiler:

Hate to burst your bubble, doubters, but the .gif kainlightwind posted is straight from the movie. That's what the monster looks like, and you can see the puffy red things on the side of its head that I talked about before. That's the first time you get a good look at the monster head on. It just looks weird because the contrast is a bit off since it's from a cam shot in a movie theater.

Also, you're wondering why the monster would bother eating the cameraman? It's because it's a giant monster movie that wants to scare the crap out of you, that's why. If you're looking for deep reasons for the events in the movie, you're going to be disappointed. Also, me and several of my friends felt the movie did a poor job of maintaining a constant size for the monster. Sometimes it looked like it was the size of a building, other times the size of a bus. The movie is pure entertainment, so just enjoy it.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?