(Note - The following is a review of "Cloverfield". I will try to stay away from spoilers, but to be honest, if you've seen the trailer, you know the bulk of the plot: Really ....ed off monster gets loose in New York and causes a bunch of .... to happen. Actually, if I refer to the monster from now on, I will call it RTM for "Really Ticked-Off Monster".)
Flash back to July, if you will. You're sitting in the theater, waiting for "Transformers" to start. The trailers start playing. One catches your eye. It looks like camcorder footage of a party, but all of a sudden, the Statue of Liberty's head ends up on a New York street and a monster's roar can be heard. You then see that "Bad Robot", the production company of J.J. Abrams, is behind the footage. If you're a fan of "Lost", you're immediate reaction is "Smokey got loose in Manhattan". Anyways, chances are... you're interest in whatever the hell you just saw was probably raised.
Flash forward to January 18th, 2008. After a slew of viral websites designed to explain the situation is a metaphorical sense, the film "Cloverfield" is released. It is the documentation of a horrible situation happening right in mid-town Manhattan. A group of friends have gathered to say goodbye to a friend leaving for Japan. All of a sudden, explosions occur, Lady Liberty loses her head, and a whole bunch of bad stuff proceeds to happen.
J.J. Abrams, who by the way did not direct this but everyone is thinking he did, has described "Cloverfield" as "America's chance to have a monster movie". Many thought this was going to be a Godzilla style film - man in suit or man in CGI-enhanced suit running wild for 100 minutes while the army tries to stop it. Cloverfield, though, is a bit different. As told from the perspective of four people at the initial party, it's a film showing the reactions to a bizarre disaster happening around them.
The characters really aren't important, but if memory serves me right, the film follows Rob, the guy leaving for Japan, Lily, who is engaged to Rob's brother, Hud, who is documenting the whole thing after being given the camera at the party, and one other girl whose name escapes me, but man does she have a killer part. They try to escape once RTM starts his rampage, but Rob gets a call from the girl he loves yet is leaving (Again, the name escapes me), and he and the others go back into the city to try and rescue her.
Naturally, things don't go smoothly.
We rarely get a clear shot of RTM for more than a couple of seconds, but its presence can be felt throughout the film. Imagine a 30-40 foot tall monster in a highly congested and developed city. If that sucker happens to trip, it's going to be taking down a couple of buildings with it. It seems RTM gets angrier more and more as the film progresses, and it goes back to a line Abrams said a while back - it starts off confused about its surroundings, but then it gets angry. Real angry. It's offspring, or whatever you want to call it, also gets angry. It's hard to describe RTM other than the fact he's a sea-born creature but also has insect like features. I remember some of the original theories about what it would be, and well, let's just say the design is pretty out there.
The film has naturally brought up comparisons to 9/11, and one sequence is taken straight out of that day. When a building is destroyed, a huge wall of smoke and debris comes down the street, and the main characters hide in a corner store to protect themselves. I'm sure several of you probably remember seeing that very scene. It also has a requisite looting scene, but even looters have to stop in awe of what they see RTM doing.
I know a lot of people are concerned about the hand-held camera presentation. Some I know are considering it nothing more than a gimmick. If you can get past it, the presentation actually works. I like the fact we're seeing this situation happen from the perspective of four people. We don't get a lot of exposition about RTM, but I like it that way. We do get one scene or so where HUD brings up two theories about where it came from. We get a potential pay-off scene for one of those theories. The other thing I dug about the hand-held camera is "blood on the lens". You'll know it when you see it. Still, I must ask the question - how long could that battery in the camera operate, and how much tape/digital capacity did they have?
The film, for at least the crowd I saw it with (7:45 opening night in Tuscaloosa), was polarizing. One woman busted out laughing at a pretty climactic scene towards the end, and it threw the whole crowd off for a bit. The ending also didn't sit well with people, but I don't think they understood that this wasn't being presented as a typical film. Throughout the film, we get footage of about a month earlier that shows Rob and his girlfriend enjoying a trip to Coney Island. The last shot of that sequence is key if you're paying attention. All I'll say is look to the right and out in the horizon. It could be a payoff to a theory presented earlier in the film. I'm guessing not a lot of people caught that on the initial watch, however.
All in all, I enjoyed the film. It was a nice treat to get during the winter doldrums. Still, it will throw some people off, especially those expecting a traditional monster movie or more explanation. See it with an open mind and make the choice yourself... otherwise RTM will come and get you.
Flash back to July, if you will. You're sitting in the theater, waiting for "Transformers" to start. The trailers start playing. One catches your eye. It looks like camcorder footage of a party, but all of a sudden, the Statue of Liberty's head ends up on a New York street and a monster's roar can be heard. You then see that "Bad Robot", the production company of J.J. Abrams, is behind the footage. If you're a fan of "Lost", you're immediate reaction is "Smokey got loose in Manhattan". Anyways, chances are... you're interest in whatever the hell you just saw was probably raised.
Flash forward to January 18th, 2008. After a slew of viral websites designed to explain the situation is a metaphorical sense, the film "Cloverfield" is released. It is the documentation of a horrible situation happening right in mid-town Manhattan. A group of friends have gathered to say goodbye to a friend leaving for Japan. All of a sudden, explosions occur, Lady Liberty loses her head, and a whole bunch of bad stuff proceeds to happen.
J.J. Abrams, who by the way did not direct this but everyone is thinking he did, has described "Cloverfield" as "America's chance to have a monster movie". Many thought this was going to be a Godzilla style film - man in suit or man in CGI-enhanced suit running wild for 100 minutes while the army tries to stop it. Cloverfield, though, is a bit different. As told from the perspective of four people at the initial party, it's a film showing the reactions to a bizarre disaster happening around them.
The characters really aren't important, but if memory serves me right, the film follows Rob, the guy leaving for Japan, Lily, who is engaged to Rob's brother, Hud, who is documenting the whole thing after being given the camera at the party, and one other girl whose name escapes me, but man does she have a killer part. They try to escape once RTM starts his rampage, but Rob gets a call from the girl he loves yet is leaving (Again, the name escapes me), and he and the others go back into the city to try and rescue her.
Naturally, things don't go smoothly.
We rarely get a clear shot of RTM for more than a couple of seconds, but its presence can be felt throughout the film. Imagine a 30-40 foot tall monster in a highly congested and developed city. If that sucker happens to trip, it's going to be taking down a couple of buildings with it. It seems RTM gets angrier more and more as the film progresses, and it goes back to a line Abrams said a while back - it starts off confused about its surroundings, but then it gets angry. Real angry. It's offspring, or whatever you want to call it, also gets angry. It's hard to describe RTM other than the fact he's a sea-born creature but also has insect like features. I remember some of the original theories about what it would be, and well, let's just say the design is pretty out there.
The film has naturally brought up comparisons to 9/11, and one sequence is taken straight out of that day. When a building is destroyed, a huge wall of smoke and debris comes down the street, and the main characters hide in a corner store to protect themselves. I'm sure several of you probably remember seeing that very scene. It also has a requisite looting scene, but even looters have to stop in awe of what they see RTM doing.
I know a lot of people are concerned about the hand-held camera presentation. Some I know are considering it nothing more than a gimmick. If you can get past it, the presentation actually works. I like the fact we're seeing this situation happen from the perspective of four people. We don't get a lot of exposition about RTM, but I like it that way. We do get one scene or so where HUD brings up two theories about where it came from. We get a potential pay-off scene for one of those theories. The other thing I dug about the hand-held camera is "blood on the lens". You'll know it when you see it. Still, I must ask the question - how long could that battery in the camera operate, and how much tape/digital capacity did they have?
The film, for at least the crowd I saw it with (7:45 opening night in Tuscaloosa), was polarizing. One woman busted out laughing at a pretty climactic scene towards the end, and it threw the whole crowd off for a bit. The ending also didn't sit well with people, but I don't think they understood that this wasn't being presented as a typical film. Throughout the film, we get footage of about a month earlier that shows Rob and his girlfriend enjoying a trip to Coney Island. The last shot of that sequence is key if you're paying attention. All I'll say is look to the right and out in the horizon. It could be a payoff to a theory presented earlier in the film. I'm guessing not a lot of people caught that on the initial watch, however.
All in all, I enjoyed the film. It was a nice treat to get during the winter doldrums. Still, it will throw some people off, especially those expecting a traditional monster movie or more explanation. See it with an open mind and make the choice yourself... otherwise RTM will come and get you.
