MUBI

Title: Cloverfield
Year: 2008
Language: English
Country: USA
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Director: Matt Reeves
Writer: Drew Goddard
Cast:
Lizzy Caplan
Jessica Lucas
Mike Vogel
Michael Stahl-David
T.J. Miller
Odette Annable
Ben Feldman
Rating: 7/10

As the instigator of pseudo-documentary horror/sci-fi, four-years later, I finally got the chance to watch it, stripped down to the film per se, a 80 minutes running time has testified the audience’s extreme endurance toward the dizziness side effect thanks to the unbreakable Super 8 which could shoot 8 hours non-stop, surely with an ultra-battery.

This J.J. Abrams co-produced work was a tremendous success in the spring box office at its time and astutely centers on a firsthand POV of a group of average Joes, facing an unknown monster ravaging Manhattan, in order to keep the DV on the spot, leading by a tacky individual heroism, four friends goes back into the danger zone to rescue another friend in the name of love, clearly casualties are inevitable, but the viscerally thrilling involvement is the chief payoff owing to the vivid participation out of the shaky disturbance along the entire excursion, say the night vision adventure in the metro tunnel is a highlight.

Another great asset is the jaw-dropping SFX of the monster and the aftermath it creates, after tons of SFX mega-products’ impetus, this relatively low-budget film could still get some awesome wows which is simply remarkable and at least on an equal level with J.J.’s own DV-intrigued supernatural monster thriller SUPER 8 (2011).

Being a feigned fly-on-the-wall scheme, there is no room for scores except the solemn ending-credit “CLOVERFIELD OVERTURE” from Michael Giacchino, a surprisingly remarkable piece of work which I was not expected at all.

Anyway, I feel lucky I hadn’t watch the film in a screen time of a multiplex, I highly doubt myself could sustain the upsetting 80 minutes, which prompts a more innovative wake-up call in the realm of technology progress, we are in desperate seeking of the further development of a stable DV, maybe when that time arrives, a remake will be on the agenda.

(Review written in January 2008)

I don’t want to spoil anything for anybody about this feature. I’ll just say it’s one of the best horror/suspense movies I’ve had the pleasure of watching in a theater. Whether you’re a genre fan or just curious, read no further and go see “Cloverfield” immediately.

The film’s sneaky ad campaign enticed without enlightening, not giving away any of the goods nor hinting at its surprising, thrilling quality. It delivers a visceral, suspenseful and powerful experience without using its hush-hush surprises as a crutch.

The only window into the apocalypse depicted in “Cloverfield” is through a consumer-grade camera, brought along by Jason Hawkins (Mike Vogel) to record his brother Rob’s (Michael Stahl-David) going away party. Their party is interrupted by Manhattan’s destruction, and their flight for survival is recorded almost entirely by their yuppie chum, Hud (T.J. Miller).

I think “Cloverfield” is a brave movie, because it’s a big-budget production that I thought worked as a cathartic outlet for 9/11. Its images and sounds are exactly like those of the attacks, the towering clouds of gray smoke billowing in the streets, the surreal metropolitan carnage and people running and screaming, and they are thrown on the silver screen for everyone to relive. It doesn’t celebrate the tragedy, but confronts it, and it’s an important movie for doing this, because few other worthwhile ones have. That undeniable association with the terrorist attacks lent urgency to the film characters’ already harrowing situation. By bringing elements of post-9/11 reality to the fore, layers of depth and gravity were added to what is otherwise an incredibly well-made B-Movie.

We go to the movies to leave reality behind, and “Cloverfield” is after-all an entertainment. The movie’s suspense builds confidently without resorting to cheap tricks, like not revealing too much of its insectoid monster too early.
Also, the cast is utterly convincing, acting like they’re really on the front row of the world being smashed to pieces. Any suspense/horror movie worth anything has awesome sound, and “Cloverfield” has it in spades. The booming, dynamic sound effects loom as ominously as the movie’s baddy.

Among all the praise, there is one big negative that some people might not overcome: the disorienting camera movements. I thought the handheld look was done much better in this movie than in, say, “28 Days Later,” because the action rarely blurred and most of the time had awesome clarity. I was used to the film style by the 5 minute mark. Still, some sections were nearly nausea inducing, so don’t go to a screening after a meal.

I had a great time with this movie, and questions still linger about its events. How did the U.S. Government get their hands on that tape? And how did that camera battery stay charged the whole time?

“Cloverfield” gets a whole-hearted recommendation. The 2008 movie year got started with a monstrous step in the right direction.

Cloverfield (aka Duderfield, Brahfield, etc.) comes across as a remake of the other American Godzilla movie (the one starring Ferris Bueller), only Cloverfield is somehow more generic and lacking any of that Godzilla’s few good qualities. It also suffers from the same Super Model Syndrome that Lost does, while the monster looks like some plastic enemy from an Xbox 360 game. In the end it is a film intended for fratboys and those with awkward goatee variations.

Out of the p.o.v. trend that hit not long ago this was the one film that stood out to me. Instead of a gimmick, the camera was used to create tension and fear. Besides the fact that characters dialogue was mostly just screaming and cursing, I ended up at least not HATING the characters. I do agree that its marketing campaign certainly exceeded the actual film, but at its core Cloverfield is still an entertaining monster movie.