Cloverfield Lives up to Expectations

By Peter* 1/19/2008

In a film that is hauntingly reminiscent of 9/11, Cloverfield pulls the audience into the story and delivers an experience like nothing they have experienced before. From its unique perspective to its hand held camera filming style, this film feels more like an amusement park thrill ride. I was one of those viral groupies for this film since I saw the first trailer before Transformers. Ever since then, I have been scouring the internet for secret and fake websites set up for the film to provide insight into the plot and monster as well as build hype. Let me just preface this review by saying that the film most definitely lives up to all its hype and though the viral marketing provided a little more back story as well as a more rewarding viewing experience, it was not necessary in order to enjoy this movie.

The plot of the film is fairly simple. The main character Rob is leaving for Japan and his brother Jason and girlfriend plan a going away party for him. At the party, you are introduced to the main cameraman Hud, who provides hilarious commentary throughout the film to ease the tension as well as meet several of the other main characters as well as witness some drama between the friends. There is what feels like an earthquake and when all the guests go to the roof they witness a large explosion over the New York skyline. This is where the film takes off and never looks back. The rest of the movie consists of intense scenes where the cast is dodging monsters and trying to get out of the mess they have found themselves in.

A lot of people were concerned about the camera work in this movie saying that it will be like The Blair Witch Project (which I actually enjoyed and thought that the camera wasn’t that bad). The shakiness wasn’t that bad other than a 30 second stretch in the beginning where Rob is trying to figure out how to work the camera. Never has a film been more engaging than Cloverfield and is mainly due to the camera work. One gets used to the point of view within the first few minutes and hardly notices the rest of the film. The director also found really clever ways to incorporate news casts in to the film. An example of this is they are in an electronics store and while one of the characters is getting a new cell phone battery, the cameraman focuses the camera on a TV broadcasting an emergency news cast in the store. Besides the camera work, the sound in the movie was incredible. If this film isn’t nominated for best sound mixing/editing, I would be very surprised. The absence of a soundtrack and the use of just ambient noise add to the “realness” of the film.

 

The director also took advantage of the handheld camera to add a lot of suspense and several scary scenes to the movie. There is a scene in the movie that is similar to that of 28 Weeks Later where they are walking around a pitch black subway and can only see with a little light on the camera and night vision. This technique works wonders in a scene that is one of the more creepy segments in film that I have ever seen. The handheld also allowed for brief snippets of the monster throughout the film which left the viewer to use their imagination as to what was happening and what the creature looks like though there is intimate contact with it at the end. Sorry, I feel like I am going on and on about the camera work, but I feel the praise is needed.

 

Cloverfield touched and examined a deeper issue than a standard monster movie. Like I stated earlier, this film was a window into 9/11. Scenes of buildings collapsing with tidal waves of dust and debris tearing through the street provided a first hand experience what it would have been like to be in New York during the attacks. The film also showed how people deal with each other as well as themselves in a time of turmoil and crisis. Some deal with this with humor, others denial, etc. This allows the viewers to identify with several of the characters not based on the situation they are in, but how they deal with stress, fear, and lack of information. It also showed that even though our society is structured and organized how all this falls apart when chaos erupts. Thank god there are no cheesy lines in it to reflect this such as in War of the Worlds when Dakota Fanning yells “Are these terrorists?

 

The bad. Honestly, I cannot think of a lot of negative things to say about this film. This isn’t a film that is going to be nominated for best picture. It isn’t that kind of movie. I felt that there could have been a little more back story on the characters as well as the monster. While the back story on the characters wouldn’t have made sense due to this film essentially being an edited collection of film from the US Department of Defense (this is really a neat twist to the film such as the DOD disclaimers in the beginning of the film) describing the event that happened designated “Cloverfield”. Which begs the question, if they put this footage together about the monster attack, why would they leave in the going away party which doesn’t add anything about the attack? **MINOR SPOILER** It would have also been nice to see a disclaimer at the end of the film to get a hint of what ends up happening but the upside is that it lets the audience use their imagination.

Overall, Cloverfield stands and delivers one of the most unique and engaging film experiences ever. It breaths life back into the monster movie which was much needed after flops like Godzilla and Reign of Fire. It looks like an indie film but feels like a blockbuster. Other than the thrill ride the film produces, Cloverfield provides insight into what it was like to be in New York during the attacks on the World Trade Center. After a year of great movies, it was nice to see a film that was completely different from anything I had ever seen. I am still shocked how secret this film has been kept considering the magnitude of the scenes and the hype surrounding the film. Kudos to JJ Abrams. Overall, I give Cloverfield a high recommendation for anyone under the age of 30 to see this movie and 8.5/10 saltystix.

*Peter Keding is a guest writer this week