My brother sent this to me awhile ago, thought it summed up the whole idea...
http://www.fandango.com/cloverfield_v413038/summary
I'm gonna check it out sometime next week. I've heard good and bad reviews...some people liked it a lot and thought it was a unique experience, and some people said worst movie ever made.
Also if you want to your time and just read the entire plot and ending -
http://themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/cloverfield.html
I watched it opening night.
Anyone who says it was the worst movie they have ever seen should never be listened to again because they have either not seen many movies or exaggerate their reviews to the degree of being nonsense.
I thought the movie was amazing. I am not much of an action movie fan, but this was really well done. It had humor that actually felt realistic in moments where you wouldn't expect it. The tension in the move was great. I also like they way they avoided monster overload. If you liked Signs and War of the Worlds (the on with Cruise), than this should entertain you. Like those movies, it focuses more on the people than the monster.
There isn't much detail to the story, which makes sense since the normal convoluted story arcs wouldn't fit the concept and would clash with the whole hand held camera gimmick. I liked the fact that I didn't care about the characters -- it's realistic. Most people really aren't that endearing, especially a bunch of Soho hipsters.
I wish I could have seen the movie without seeing any previews. It would be cool to have no idea what it was about.
If people have problems with non-steady cam video, than don't watch it. If Blair Witch made you dizzy, you can't handle this movie.
I'm not sure what people who booed in the post below expected from the movie. This is clearly a movie that will polarize people, like Moulin Rouge. Some will love it, some will hate it, and the line won't be drawn along critics and the masses (like with, for example, garbage like AVP or the Saw series).
Ultimately, you need to ask someone who has similar movie tastes to yours what they felt. If you thought 300 (crap) was a good movie, I am not the guy to listen to. I'm more of a limited release movie fan than a blockbuster fan.