The Chow on Cloverfield

Ok, first of all, the shaky camera bit, loose it. Comeon, buy a camera that's got image stabilization. And what's with 1/2 of the party scene being filmed at like a 45 degree angle? Sure you're trying to get the home movie bit, but even the worse drunken hack should be able to hold the camera something close to level with the ground.

* Spoiler Alert *
As da'Moose said, the party scene was way too long. If it was a DoD film that was used as archive footage of a major incident, I think they'd find it okay to edit out some of the emo from the 20-/30-somethings going away party.

Another thing, when they were trudging through the subway tunnels (with no light source of course) and they saw the swarm of rats running by them. What exactly was going through their minds. Were they wondering what the old idiom "like rats deserting a sinking ship" comes from? AND having problems figuring it out? When sewer rats are swarming, it's typically because one of the following scenarios: an approaching flood, an approaching fire, some sort of chemical hazard, a swarm of aliens which impregnate people with critters that explode from their abdomen a few hours later. I'd qualify all of those as A Very Bad Thing (tm) and then see if I can outrun the rats.

I am surprised how good footage the camera man got of him being attacked by the little critters. If I was holding a camera and attacked by something that looks like the jaw from some dinosaur with legs, the definition of camera would change from "a device that consists of a lightproof chamber with an aperture fitted with a lens and a shutter through which the image of an object is projected onto a surface for recording (as on film) or for translation into electrical impulses (as for television broadcast)" (1) to "a device used to bludgeon a creature attempting to eat me for a midnight snack". Yes, it'd screw up the camera work a little more, but that's understandable...

When the gang arrived at the field hospital, what was going through their minds? "Marlena was attacked by one of those aliens and was bleeding badly, do you think we should get her medical attention? Nah. It's only a flesh wound."
* End Spoiler Alert *

Overall, I did enjoy the movie. I take off a point for the shaky camera crap (yeah, I really hate that bit), and a 1/2 point for not having enough about Cloverfield itself, so final ranking 3.5 steady cams out of a possible 5.