Cloverfield: Finishing al-Qaeda's Work
Some thing has found us.
The marketing campaign was brilliant. Few had talked about Cloverfield before the first teaser trailer, but after that it was on everybody’s mind. What is this? A disaster movie? A monster movie? Is it about 9/11? The clues were sparse, but enough to generate a lot of buzz. All we knew was that some thing or power had ripped the head off of the Statue of Liberty and thrown it down a Manhattan street. They certainly had our attention.
The movie is pretty much all of the above; it’s the Blair Witch Project version of Godzilla. The first half-hour allows us to get acquainted with the lead characters and their relationships. Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) has been promoted and is soon leaving for Japan. His friends decide to throw him a going-away party and Hud Platt (T.J. Miller) is given the task of capturing the party with a hand-held video camera. After a while, Beth McIntyre (Odette Yustman) arrives at the party with a guy in tow; Rob is upset since he thought he and Beth had a thing going. They argue and Beth leaves. Shortly thereafter, a minor earthquake ends the party. It is soon clear that the ground didn’t shake because of seismic activity; New York City is under attack. A giant creature of some kind has suddenly appeared and it is seriously pissed. As it begins to destroy the city, the military gathers its forces and they start attacking the creature with every kind of firepower available to them, which only serves to make the monster angrier. When Rob learns that Beth is trapped in her apartment, he decides to go back into the inferno and save the love of his life.
The entire film is presented as footage rescued from the video camera and the filmmakers have done a good job convincing us that these are real horrors captured by a regular guy. As a friend of mine pointed out, the sound is of course awfully impressive for a simple video camera, but that’s a problem we’re happy to ignore. On paper, the story is ridiculous and old-hat, but by focusing on how citizens are affected by a huge disaster, how a city can turn into a dark, dangerous and smoke-filled war zone, and employing first-rate special effects, the filmmakers effectively create a mood reminiscent of 9/11. It’s an original take on an old concept and even the monster looks scary (not forgetting its creepy crab-like parasites). Director Matt Reeves’ footage of the party reminds me at first of his TV show Felicity, which is a nice touch… but he then goes on to prove that he can stage moments of tension and horror that can compete with the best. The young actors are likable enough; some may dismiss the value of the party, but it is essential in order to build our feelings for them. It is also up to these Felicity cast wannabes to give the film a discreet sense of humor – and they do.
There’s a scene near the end where the monster in all its rage is caught on camera going berserk. It’s a horrifying image, one that instantly makes you realize that the battle is lost, that the city will indeed cease to exist. It’s quite an accomplishment to do what no Godzilla flick has ever done – make you forget that you’re watching a silly monster movie and start fearing an apocalypse of this kind.
The YouTube clip shows a trailer.
Cloverfield 2008-U.S. 85 min. Color. Produced by J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk. Directed by Matt Reeves. Cast: Michael Stahl-David (Rob Hawkins), T.J. Miller (Hud Platt), Jessica Lucas (Lily Ford), Odette Yustman, Lizzy Caplan, Mike Vogel.
film movies jj abrams cloverfield IMDb
Comments
Due to spam, I am forced to moderate comments, which is why it may take a few hours until your comment is displayed.