#12 - cloverfield

Cloverfield (2008)

Director:  Matt Reeves

Producer:  J.J. Abrams

Actors:  Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, and T.J. Miller

Let me preface my review by saying that I am no Roger Ebert or Peter Travers.  I am not claiming to be a connoisseur of horror movies, nor am I suggesting that I am worthy of rating films for a renowned publication.   I’m simply a person who loves movies and who likes to write about “stuff”.  If you are not interested in scary movies or if you don’t like reading… then delete this immediately.

The movie is Cloverfield.  The entire monster film is shot documentary style from a hand-held camera to get a first hand point-of-view.  The footage is found at a later date, and hence the movie is made.  I first saw this movie in 1999, the summer before my senior year of High School.  Wait, that was The Blair Witch Project… and wasn’t that a ghost story?  Ok, now I remember, this is the Japanese movie with the creature attacking the city.  Shoot, that’s not right either.  That one was Godzilla.  Ok, now I got it… Cloverfield.  The story of five young New Yorkers trying to survive the most unreal and traumatic event of their lives.  That is the pseudo 9/11 documentary made into a horror movie, right?  Sort of.

Let’s get the essentials out of the way.  Firstly, I am obsessed with The Blair Witch Project, so any reference to that movie is with love and adoration.  I think it is one of the most clever concepts ever put on film.  It is the epitome of the term “scary movie”. It was so ground-breaking at the time that people honestly did not think that it was “fake” when they were viewing it in the theatre.  Now that’s effective marketing.  That ship has sailed though.  And many movies have tried to ride its coattails… no one comes close. (Although Diary of the Dead and [REC] are both solid efforts)

Secondly, J.J. Abrams is a genius.  I’m not saying that to be facetious.  I truly do worship his work, most notably Lost.  I have devoted more hours to watching Lost than I would like to admit… each hour ending with me thinking, wtf just happened??

Thirdly, if you are one of those people who claim you get “motion sickness” by WATCHING a movie on a screen… you definitely should not see this and I have one word for you in the most sarcastic intonation I can muster… REALLY??  Really?

The movie starts… off… very… slow.  I mean, seriously.  How long does it take to introduce five boring twenty-somethings?  I can do it in one paragraph… watch.  Rob (Michael Stahl-David) and Beth (Odette Yustman) are the “should be couple”.  Jason (Mike Vogel) is Rob’s brother.  Lily (Jessica Lucas) is Jason’s girlfriend who is secretly crushing on Rob (that is my astute observation, not something discussed in the film.  But it’s obvious).  Hud (TJ Miller) is the “funny white guy” who can’t get a girlfriend.  And Marlena (Lizzy Caplan) is Lindsay Lohan’s new BFF in Mean Girls.  I’m sorry, but that’s ALL I could think of the entire movie.  In Cloverfield terms, Marlena is really just the object of Hud’s affection.

Jason and Lily throw Rob a surprise going away party because he is taking a job in Japan (here’s lookin’ at you Godzilla).  The soiree plays like a wedding reception in that Hud takes the video camera around to people and asks them to send farewell wishes to Rob.  Just when I think I can’t stand another moment of this nonsense, the city is attacked by an unknown behemoth and the movie finally starts… and it starts fast.  The action is non-stop for the next hour and it’s pretty scary in several instances.  The actual running time is 84 minutes, but I’m going to pretend it is only 64 minutes long… because I’m writing J.J. Abrams a letter and requesting those 20 opening minutes added back to the end of my life.  He is God, right?

The rest of the movie details Rob’s Superman plan to rescue Beth from the highest building in the universe, which happens to be toppled at a 45 degree angle against the next tallest building in the universe, all while avoiding the creature and the disgusting mini creatures that fall from him/her/it like parasitic lice.  Of course Beth is on the other side of town, so their adventure is a long and audacious one.  Stay tuned for the subway scene… certainly the best of the movie and the reason that it made this list.

I found Cloverfield very entertaining, in a District 9/King Kong kind of way.  The special effects are great, and the creature is pretty convincing.  But I didn’t find the movie extraordinarily scary, and I personally wouldn’t classify it as a horror movie, but rather a sci-fi thriller. 

 The monster is scariest when you only see small glimpses from afar.  (Paying homage to the whole Jaws concept that less is more.)  There is just enough to scare you, but little enough to make your imagination run wild with what the creature might actually look like up close.  Abrams eventually reveals the “thing” in all its glory, and the special effects are good enough to keep you satisfied. 

I will admit that the POV camera work is a nice touch, albeit generic and shaky (sorry again for those who get “motion-sickness” without actually moving… really?).  It makes the audience feel like they are truly in the action instead of just looking down from a helicopter watching people scatter.  Once more, the hand-held doesn’t have the impact it did in The Blair Witch Project, but effective nonetheless. 

What’s amazing is that the camera battery lasted that long (Hud should get in business with Cannon) and what’s even more impressive is that Hud cared more about us, the audience, than he did about himself.  Instead of dropping the camera and running for his life because a giant creature was chopping off the Statue of Liberty’s head, toppling buildings with one fell swoop, and eating people as appetizers, Hud had the wherewithal to  keep the footage rolling for posterity.  Bravo Hud! 

Was Cloverfield scary?  At times, Yes.

Jami’s Rating:  3 out of 5 stars

Would I recommend this movie:  Yes.  It was entertaining.