Hello Zelaron!
Just got back from seeing Cloverfield and tought I would whip out a quick review.
In a word: Great. Not awesome but pretty damn good. Fast, exciting, and even funny at moments.
What I liked: The movie had some genuine jump in your seat moments, some eerie 911 imagery, and the monster after all the guessing and hype definitely kicked some ass (and knocked most of Manhattan on its ass as well.) The action was continual and kept you glued to the edge of your seat for the most part with only one or two suspense building lulls. The sound effects were stupendious, even when the monster was not in the scene the sound of its constant roaring in the distance and the thud of miltary ordnance (and a few falling buildings) were enough to keep your rapt attention.
What I did not like: There were a couple of scenes that I thought actually detracted from the movie, the death scene of Hud with the full facial of the monster was a little ridiculous...how the hell does a 300 ft. tall monster sneak up on you in Central Park? The spider/crab parasites that fell off the creature at one point were just a distraction for a scene or two and felt kind of tacked on to eliminate a slow spot and did not add much to the overall affect of the movie.
Now heres the spoiler alert: What did the creature look like? I thought they did a great job overall and it was pretty darn close to some of the blogs I have been seeing on the movie. The best I could describe it is as a cross between the Kraken (from Clash of the Titans, NOT Pirates of the Carribean), the creature from The Host, and a dash of something out of Doom 3.
In closing I highly reccomend it!
Peace out,
Doofus