Cloverfield
The new age of monster movies is upon us as J.J. Adams produces blockbuster hit Cloverfield. This tale chronicles a group of friends celebrating at a going-away party when an unexpected attack hits Manhattan. This attack is of course a mysterious, funny looking monster that is both extremely powerful and hell bent on destroying everything in its path.
Much of the film’s criticisms come from the fact that the entire movie is shot in the format of a handheld camera. The screen shakes throughout the movie and is never quite in the correct spot. While this can make you a bit seasick watching on a larger screen, I actually applaud the innovation on behalf of the filmmakers. Innovation is something that is sorely lacking in Hollywood of late, and it’s worth recognizing movies that take risks. Overall though, the documenatry style filming is similar to the Blair Witch Project while taking it a bit further. I enjoyed it a lot and felt it added a unique dimension from a thriller that has been missing from Hollywood.
Like any big budget monster film, you’re going to find an abundance of special effects mixed in. These are top notch and look real as you’ll see the decapitated head of Lady Liberty fly across your screen. Downtown Manhattan is modeled well and the destruction of buildings on a shaky handheld camera makes you feel like you’re in the movie and experiencing everything first hand. The monster is unique and unlike anything you’ve seen before on screen. It’s Godzilla meets King Kong meets Alien. It’s lack of actual screen time gives it a more mysterious and intimidating effect that has been missing from recent monster flicks.
Where the movie excels in special effects and innovation, it lacks in storytelling. The entire movie is shot on one handheld camera that is being used at a party when the monster attacks. Despite the real fear of being eaten by this monster, there is no thought of ever leaving the camera behind or dropping it in a moment of panic. This seemingly average Manhattanite is either the dumbest human being alive, or has the biggest set of balls I’ve ever seen. The other actors are subpar and never quite hit the proper emotional response during a climatic scene. You’ll also be driven back by their horrific decision making and find yourself wanting to throw something at your TV as they make some of the most unrealistic choices throughout the film.
Overall, Cloverfield has it’s good and bad points. For an innovative documentary style film, I wished the characters acted in a more realistic manner. The special effects are fantastic and it comes close to being a great movie. The feature comes in at just under 90 minutes and is fast paced with the only slow spots coming at the beginning of the movie. It’s a fun film that should be rented for a night that you want a little rush.
Bonus: The DVD came with an extensive bonus section. You’ll get deleted scenes and two alternate endings (they aren’t that much different from the original). You’ll find bloopers, behind the scenes footage in video diary format, as well as mini features on the visual effects in Cloverfield.
This was rented via Netflix and received within one day of shipping.
I was not sure what to expect when I rented Cloverfield. I heard mixed things about it and figured I needed to judge it on my own.
I do not really know anything about the movie, that is who directed it or who stars in it… but I do not think that is really important. The movie seems as thought it was pretty high budget, but records the entire movie in something called POV (Point Of View) which is a popular genre in the adult industry… or so I hear
This makes the actual quality of video, lower than normal quality, but makes up for it with some decent sound, and more or less an entire CG (computer graphics) version of New York getting 0wn3d by a giant creature. I guess the creatures name is Cloverfield? I do not really know.
The characters are pretty annoying, do some pretty stupid things…such as document the entire “14 hour attack” on video. I wonder what brand Camcorder they used? Nokia seems to make its way into some high profile product placements, but last I checked they only really made cell phones.
I was not too impressed by this movie, BUT it was pretty entertaining, and they did take some risks as far as making it.
Honestly, I would have loved to see the POV style movie done with a more recognizable monster such as Godzilla.
Extras on the DVD were not they great. They had 2 alternative endings which sucked equally as the one they kept, and a things called “Clover Fun” which was pretty lame as well.
I did not love this, but I did not hate it. I give it 3.5 of 5 stars.
I would recommend it to those of you who like Godzilla type movies, and want to see something that is kind of different than most other movies that have been made in the last few years.
It took me one day to receive this movie from Netflix, and one day for them to receive it.
I went into this film expecting to be very annoyed, even though the premise seemed interesting enough (A group of young hip urbanites have their night ruined by a giant monster that essentially destroys New York City). I was expecting to be annoyed because I had a feeling it was going to have completely unrealistic, smart-ass dialogue and completely over the top CGI. Well it was very CGI heavy and there also was a fair amount of gratuitous product placement (although not as much as I Am Legend) but on the up side the dialogue could have been a lot worse and I thought the actors all did a good job. I really liked the concept of it all being documented on a video camera and it was pretty well executed.
Obviously there were lots of unrealistic elements to this film but then again, it’s a monster movie not Schindler’s List. As long as you keep that in mind, I think Cloverfield will keep you entertained, it’s really all about the suspension of disbelief here. In addition to this I think there are some underlying themes happening as well, the first being a comment on the current state of technology and our ability to use it to document life to the nth degree and the second being a response to the September 11th attacks. This second point I feel is the stronger theme being expressed. Cloverfield follows in the tradition of the monster movie genre by reflecting popular culture’s paranoia and fascination with terrorism, much in the same way as films like The Blob and Invasion of the Body Snatchers did. At the end of the day Cloverfield does everything a good creature feature should, you don’t see the monster until the second reel and there’s plenty of gore. This film would have been great in the theatre but was still enjoyable at home. I give Cloverfield three and a half stars.