1. Answers!
So one of the schticks of the marketing campaign that surrounded Cloverfield for months on end were the secrets that it held, which was probably the reason why so many people got hyped about the film in the first place. It brought up the dangers of corporate power and underground rebellion, as well as hinting at the more personal lives of the movie's protagonists, all while managing to keep things relatively hush-hush. So did all of that, coupled with the promise of a giant monster invasion grab your attention? Well, great, because three-fourths of that equation were pretty much absent from the final product. Who was Slusho, what was it's connection to the oil-mining company Tagruato? Who was Teddy Hanssen and his relationship with the underground "eco-terror" group T.I.D.O. Wave? What was up with that "evidence" that he sent his girlfriend Jamie Lascano prior to the events of the film? What happened to her after she ate it? Why was she such a major character in the marketing, when she only appears in the film for, literally, a couple of seconds (I didn't even notice her during my first viewing!)? We get no answers to the questions raised in the "Alternate Reality Game" (appropriately abbreviated to ARG!). In fact, they're not even implicated throughout the story. Slusho, which had a large presence throughout the marketing, made a whimper of a cameo in the form of a t-shirt worn by Hawk, and meanwhile, neither Tagruato nor T.I.D.O. Wave are even present in the film. Talk about WEAK. With that said, it's almost out of the question: we need answers. NOW. As with the poorly developed characters, this is likely an element that was greatly affected by the use of the found-footage style. What we got with the original was merely a footnotes version of what we should've gotten, and this is clearly an area where the sequel could vastly improve upon the original. Put the focus on, perhaps, some members of T.I.D.O. as they continue investigating Tagruato's role in the creature's appearance following the events of the first movie. We should see how it's existence has effected the rest of the world, as well as it's fate (it's implied during the end credits that it had survived the military's attempt to bomb it, but, like pretty much everything else, we aren't given solid answers). Whether or not the main characters of the last film also survived the bombing isn't necessarily essential to the plot, instead focusing on a new set of characters. Sure, an appearance by Rob and his lady-friend might be nice for the fans of the series, but the writers shouldn't make this a major selling point for the movie (not that it could be). While this plot idea doesn't completely follow some of the above suggestions. The monster wouldn't have as large of a role as it had before, at least, not in the way that we'd expect. Perhaps exploring it's origins might be suitable for a whole film? At least it has the potential to answer many of the burning questions that we were left with in the previous instalment. While I can see people disagreeing with some of the points I've made on this list (particularly the last one), these are mere suggestions, and, ultimately, it is up to Abrams and his crew to create a story that not only satisfies them, but also the audiences who take the time to immerse themselves in the series' backstory. With that in mind, it's all opinion, so if you enjoyed the movie, good for you. I still like the ideas, as I had back in the good ol' days, but I simply yearn for a more well-realized film in the future that will, hopefully, fix the kinks present in the original. At this point, it's a little hard to say how long it will take for the sequel to finally begin production, as I had been hearing talk about a follow-up since the first one came out, and I had just begun high school at the time, and now I'm going into college! Hopefully, we'll get more news on that in coming months.