I’m shivering as I set out to write this review; and I cannot decide whether its because Karachi is hitting record lowest temperatures, or is this chill going down my spine the same one that I have been experiencing since last July while watching the online trailer of “Cloverfield” with the bone-chilling scream? I now truly know exactly how I would feel coming face to face with a monster that could wipe away my whole neighborhood with one sweep of its hand!

It was while standing in line to buy the ticket that I started hoping that it will not be a waste of time, money and effort; with all the trailers for this film online for the last six months, letting out quite a lot of the movie beforehand. Even if the monster itself was not shown, one was forced to be ready for disappointment because of all the excitement built up by the marketing of the film since so long.

But, fortunately, all these fears proved pointless and the movie was full of – for the lack of a better word – surprises! Believe me, it is the most terrifying visual object of fiction I have ever come across. It’s not just the size of the thing, but its mechanics and acoustics were more effective at making teeth chatter, than the cold wave that is sweeping over many parts of the globe nowadays. Really, J.J. Abrams has given the word “monster” a new, more “audible” definition! I wish I could go on and on about the monster, but it would really spoil the fun.

Yet another surprise was the storyline, as the trailers suggested the movie to be quite shallow from this perspective. It seemed then that there would be no real characterization in the movie. All this proved to be another misconception, as Rob, Beth and the others turned out to be quite well defined people, who managed to engage the audience emotionally as if they were real people in mortal peril. The first few minutes of the movie are dedicated to introducing the characters with the dreadful calm, characteristic of monster movie beginnings. It begins with a party for the lead character, Rob (Michael Stahl-David), who has just got a new job in Japan. It is during this party that the screaming part incorporated in the afore mentioned trailer comes and one gets goose bumps just as if one is listening to it for the first time. The story is about how New York City is being evacuated while Rob tries to seek and rescue Beth (Odette Yustman) who is the typical Hollywood damsel in distress with a few action moves of her own. But the show is stolen by one Hud Platt (T.J. Miller), who is shooting all the happenings with his video camera. Even though one gets to see very little of him on screen, he involves the audience so much, that on several occasions one is forced to focus all attention towards him rather than the main story. In fact, most of the story is portrayed from his point of view with a pleasantly comic flavor that is all so important in catastrophic movies.

Some might argue that this way of showing the story is taken from “Blair Witch”, but one cannot help but notice that where in the older movie, the idea was used as an experiment, it is used to perfection in “Cloverfield”. With a few glitches that mainly involve unbelievable twists of fate, “Cloverfield” does manage to stand apart in the action movie genre.

All in all, “Cloverfield” is worth all the eighty-five minutes one would invest in order to have some fun. Contrary to the popular misconception, it is not a copy of Godzilla, but an effective inspiration proving J.J. Abram’s genius in attracting the American eye to a foreign concept. It is a story of normal human beings who are not action heroes, but terribly frightened people trying only to save their beloved.