Plot Summary

Chaos in Manhattan

In the opening scenes of Cloverfield, a bunch of friends are throwing a going away party for their friend Rob, who is moving out of New York to work in Japan. However, their festivities are cut short when earthquakes rock the apartment building, as they all rush to the roof to see what is going on, a building in the distance explodes. They rush down to the streets and find one of their friends hysterical screaming that “It” is eating people. At that very moment another explosion is heard, ad the severed head of the Statue of Liberty crashes through the street and lands not 50 feet from them. What could “It” be?

The Escape

After hearing of this monster, the 5 friends decide they must flee New York City, bringing their camera along to document their escape. As they flee they see the military rolling in their heavy artillery in an attempt to stop the monster. They watch in horror as tiny parasite-like creatures fall off the beast and begin attacking people. They make it to a military evacuation zone and are put into helicopters. As they fly above the city, they watch as planes drop bombs upon the monster. Through the cloud of dust, it lunges up at the helicopter in an attempt to bring it down. The film makers have placed openings for multiple ideas of possible endings to this encounter throughout the entirety of the movie, even in the ending credits there are clues to if this monster meets its ultimate demise. It’s up to the viewer to decide what makes the most sense and what is an impossibility from this scene up to the very end.