Cloverfield Movie Review

When previews for the J.J. Abrams-produced monster movie Cloverfield began running before Transformers last summer, audiences were captivated by the suspenseful and mysterious ads which showed a giant creature attacking New York City, and which provided a release date but not even a film title. Shortly thereafter, Paramount Pictures – the film’s distributor – began a clever viral marketing campaign that included fake websites and MySpace profiles, helping to build buzz for the film and creating a large online community around it in the process. Everything about the monster, from what it looks like to where it came from, was kept successfully under wraps by the studio prior to Cloverfield’s release, further adding to the film’s air of mystery. So, did the first major American-made monster movie since 1998’s mediocre Godzilla live up to the hype? In short, yes.

The film is presented as if someone has found a hand-held video camera, rewound it, and played it all from the start of the tape. In line with that presentation, the film opens with protagonist Rob (Michael Stahl-David) recording inside his Manhattan apartment early one morning, and discussing his plans to go to Coney Island that day with love interest Beth (Odette Yustman), who is lying in his bed. The film then jumps a month ahead, as the camera is now in the hands of Rob’s brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas), who are planning to throw a surprise going-away party for Rob, who it turns out has accepted a job offer in Japan. The film then jumps ahead to later that evening, when Rob’s friends have gathered in his apartment for the party and the

camera has been entrusted to Rob’s friend Hud (T.J. Miller) so that he can walk around recording people’s good-luck wishes for Rob at his new job. The party scene drags on longer than it should, and while certain key story elements – like the fact that Rob hadn’t called Beth after their day together at Coney Island – are revealed, a lot of the dialogue is downright boring to watch. When a sudden earthquake (accompanied by a frightening, animal-like howl) rocks the building they’re in and knocks out power across the city, the film finally gets interesting. Converging on the apartment’s roof to see if they can get a better look at what may be going on, the young partygoers see a massive explosion in the distance, followed by projectiles blasting into the air and crashing down around them, forcing them to flee back inside. At this point, the film hits a hectic running stride from which it rarely declines, enticing the viewer to share in the panic and fear of the characters as they make their way through a chaotic New York City that’s turned into a war zone between a giant monster and the U.S. Army.

While on its surface, Cloverfield is a straight-forward monster movie in the vein of the infamous Godzilla franchise from Japan, it possesses intellectual undercurrents that make it destined to defy such a simple classification. By aping the methodology of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project and presenting the entire film from the point-of-view of one hand-held camera that has been apparently found after-the-fact, Cloverfield not only examines the concept of a monster movie from a new viewpoint, but also makes a statement about both the ubiquity of surveillance equipment and the nature of a modern society obsessed with documenting its own existence. In fact, when asked about a potential Cloverfield sequel, director Matt Reeves told the movie website ComingSoon.net “There's a moment on the Brooklyn Bridge, and there was a guy filming something on the side of the bridge, and Hud sees him filming and he turns over and he sees the ship that's been capsized and sees the headless Statue of Liberty, and then he turns back and this guy's briefly filming him.

In my mind that was two movies intersecting for a brief moment, and I thought there was something interesting in the idea that this incident happened and there are so many different points of view, and there are several different movies at least happening that evening and we just saw one piece of another.” So while the hand-held camera storytelling method offers a fascinating potential for “sequels” that take place concurrently to the original, it is not without its drawbacks; reports have surfaced from across North America of some moviegoers becoming nauseous and vomiting as a result of the shakiness on-screen. Cloverfield is definitely not suited for people who are particularly vulnerable to motion sickness.

The other undeniable thematic undercurrent present in Cloverfield is its references to the 9/11 terrorist attacks; indeed, the entire film could be seen as being one giant allusion to 9/11. New York is attacked, buildings crumble and send all-too-familiar clouds of smoke and debris through the streets of Manhattan, and the people dying as a result of the attack are unaware of both who (or in this case, what) is attacking them and why. In one scene, after the main characters have caught their first good glimpse of the giant monster and are fleeing up a stairwell, Hud – the character supposedly holding the camera – posits a number of theories about the origins of the creature, including that it may be part of a government conspiracy, making a direct reference to the various theories that have emerged about who was really behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While some critics have derided the film’s 9/11 allegories as shameless, the reality is that recreating the chaos and panic of 9/11 is one of the things Cloverfield does perfectly. And, truth be told, there is nothing wrong with examining history through art, even if that history is recent enough to offend some.

If there is one part of Cloverfield that really falters, it’s the romance-laced script that its largely-unknown actors are often unable to work with. If you thought the dialogue during the opening party was asinine, just wait until you hear some of the cringe-worthy cheese the film has in store for its final act. In essence, Rob and Beth love each other, but circumstances complicate that fact. Jason and Lily are dating each other. Hud is in love with Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), but she won’t give him the time of day. And you won’t particularly care about any of that, because the gigantic monster destroying New York is much more engaging than Cloverfield’s underdeveloped human protagonists could ever be. While the awkward moments inspired by Hud’s pathetic passes at Marlena are often genuinely funny, it simply isn’t enough to save the rest of the cast from some of their own lines.

As a whole, Cloverfield is a very entertaining, surprisingly provocative film, and it certainly breathes new life into the monster movie genre. Some people may balk at its lack of explanation about the monster itself, but those people are likely missing the point; the apparent lack of information provided to the protagonists about what’s going on around them is a fundamental part of why the movie is as frightening and engaging as it is. Minor missteps in the script aside, Cloverfield is definitely worth a trip to the movie theatre.

Website:	http://www.trendpimp.com
Title:	Cloverfield Movie Review
Author:	Curtis Spring - Media Commentator
Description:	Manhattan has turned into a chaotic war zone between a giant monster and the U.S. Army... But is the movie any good?

When previews for the J.J. Abrams-produced monster movie Cloverfield began running before Transformers last summer, audiences were captivated by the suspenseful and mysterious ads which showed a giant creature attacking New York City, and which provided a release date but not even a film title. Shortly thereafter, Paramount Pictures – the film’s distributor – began a clever viral marketing campaign that included fake websites and MySpace profiles, helping to build buzz for the film and creating a large online community around it in the process. Everything about the monster, from what it looks like to where it came from, was kept successfully under wraps by the studio prior to Cloverfield’s release, further adding to the film’s air of mystery. So, did the first major American-made monster movie since 1998’s mediocre Godzilla live up to the hype? In short, yes. The film is presented as if someone has found a hand-held video camera, rewound it, and played it all from the start of the tape. In line with that presentation, the film opens with protagonist Rob (Michael Stahl-David) recording inside his Manhattan apartment early one morning, and discussing his plans to go to Coney Island that day with love interest Beth (Odette Yustman), who is lying in his bed. The film then jumps a month ahead, as the camera is now in the hands of Rob’s brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas), who are planning to throw a surprise going-away party for Rob, who it turns out has accepted a job offer in Japan. The film then jumps ahead to later that evening, when Rob’s friends have gathered in his apartment for the party and the camera has been entrusted to Rob’s friend Hud (T.J. Miller) so that he can walk around recording people’s good-luck wishes for Rob at his new job. The party scene drags on longer than it should, and while certain key story elements – like the fact that Rob hadn’t called Beth after their day together at Coney Island – are revealed, a lot of the dialogue is downright boring to watch. When a sudden earthquake (accompanied by a frightening, animal-like howl) rocks the building they’re in and knocks out power across the city, the film finally gets interesting. Converging on the apartment’s roof to see if they can get a better look at what may be going on, the young partygoers see a massive explosion in the distance, followed by projectiles blasting into the air and crashing down around them, forcing them to flee back inside. At this point, the film hits a hectic running stride from which it rarely declines, enticing the viewer to share in the panic and fear of the characters as they make their way through a chaotic New York City that’s turned into a war zone between a giant monster and the U.S. Army. While on its surface, Cloverfield is a straight-forward monster movie in the vein of the infamous Godzilla franchise from Japan, it possesses intellectual undercurrents that make it destined to defy such a simple classification. By aping the methodology of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project and presenting the entire film from the point-of-view of one hand-held camera that has been apparently found after-the-fact, Cloverfield not only examines the concept of a monster movie from a new viewpoint, but also makes a statement about both the ubiquity of surveillance equipment and the nature of a modern society obsessed with documenting its own existence. In fact, when asked about a potential Cloverfield sequel, director Matt Reeves told the movie website ComingSoon.net “There's a moment on the Brooklyn Bridge, and there was a guy filming something on the side of the bridge, and Hud sees him filming and he turns over and he sees the ship that's been capsized and sees the headless Statue of Liberty, and then he turns back and this guy's briefly filming him. In my mind that was two movies intersecting for a brief moment, and I thought there was something interesting in the idea that this incident happened and there are so many different points of view, and there are several different movies at least happening that evening and we just saw one piece of another.” So while the hand-held camera storytelling method offers a fascinating potential for “sequels” that take place concurrently to the original, it is not without its drawbacks; reports have surfaced from across North America of some moviegoers becoming nauseous and vomiting as a result of the shakiness on-screen. Cloverfield is definitely not suited for people who are particularly vulnerable to motion sickness. The other undeniable thematic undercurrent present in Cloverfield is its references to the 9/11 terrorist attacks; indeed, the entire film could be seen as being one giant allusion to 9/11. New York is attacked, buildings crumble and send all-too-familiar clouds of smoke and debris through the streets of Manhattan, and the people dying as a result of the attack are unaware of both who (or in this case, what) is attacking them and why. In one scene, after the main characters have caught their first good glimpse of the giant monster and are fleeing up a stairwell, Hud – the character supposedly holding the camera – posits a number of theories about the origins of the creature, including that it may be part of a government conspiracy, making a direct reference to the various theories that have emerged about who was really behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While some critics have derided the film’s 9/11 allegories as shameless, the reality is that recreating the chaos and panic of 9/11 is one of the things Cloverfield does perfectly. And, truth be told, there is nothing wrong with examining history through art, even if that history is recent enough to offend some. If there is one part of Cloverfield that really falters, it’s the romance-laced script that its largely-unknown actors are often unable to work with. If you thought the dialogue during the opening party was asinine, just wait until you hear some of the cringe-worthy cheese the film has in store for its final act. In essence, Rob and Beth love each other, but circumstances complicate that fact. Jason and Lily are dating each other. Hud is in love with Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), but she won’t give him the time of day. And you won’t particularly care about any of that, because the gigantic monster destroying New York is much more engaging than Cloverfield’s underdeveloped human protagonists could ever be. While the awkward moments inspired by Hud’s pathetic passes at Marlena are often genuinely funny, it simply isn’t enough to save the rest of the cast from some of their own lines. As a whole, Cloverfield is a very entertaining, surprisingly provocative film, and it certainly breathes new life into the monster movie genre. Some people may balk at its lack of explanation about the monster itself, but those people are likely missing the point; the apparent lack of information provided to the protagonists about what’s going on around them is a fundamental part of why the movie is as frightening and engaging as it is. Minor missteps in the script aside, Cloverfield is definitely worth a trip to the movie theatre. About the author: Curtis is a writer specializing in politics, popular media and the entertainment industry. Based out of Vancouver, Canada, he graduated from Kwantlen University College with an Arts degree in 2006 and is now a contributing editor at TrendPimp magazine. His online portfolio can be found at CurtisSpring.com.