Brikar

"Cloverfield"
Starring: Michael Stahl-David, TJ Miller, Jessica Lucas and Lizzy Caplan
Written by: Drew Goddard
Directed by: Matt Reeves

Probably one of the most intriguing projects in recent memory, "Cloverfield", awesome though it may be, will probably be remembered most for its infuriatingly vague (though equally awesome) advertising campaign. An initial trailer in front of last summer's "Transformers" showed the head of the Statue of Liberty slamming down in the middle of a crowded New York street, and then merely a release date - not even a title. For months, people would ask, "What is this movie? What's going on?"

Those kinds of questions will continue as people see the movie itself, and when you think about it, you'll realize that it was designed that way.

In your standard Godzilla-type monster movie, you generally get the big Hollywood treatment - elite military and scientists somehow manage to save the day by learning about the creature and figuring out how to kill it, thus saving the city and the world and puppies and babies and all that. In the initial moments of those movies, you often see people running and screaming and getting killed just trying not to be stepped on. The makers of "Cloverfield" have decided, "Fuck the military and the scientists... let's make a movie about those poor bastards in the taxi cab or on the subway trying to get away from this giant freakin' monster."

But how do you make that interesting? How do you put a new spin on a story that's been told countless times over the last century? The conceit of "Cloverfield" is that everything you're seen is found footage, which puts the audience in the role of the camera man, a New York 20-something nicknamed Hud. His best friend, Rob, has just gotten himself a new job in Japan, and his friends are throwing him a massive going away party. Hud's job at the party is to go around and tape everyone saying a quick goodbye message.

While the party is going on, we witness Rob having a fight with Beth, a girl he's been in love with for... well, ever. It seems they finally hooked up not long before, and he never called her back. Now she shows up at the party with a new boy, and Rob is, well, pissed. Beth leaves, and not long after, something attacks the city. As whatever it is moves closer to the apartment, Rob and his friends attempt to flee the city. Just then, Beth calls Rob and says she's trapped in her apartment in Central Park, and Rob makes the dangerous decision to go back into the city to rescue her. Accompanied by his brother's fiancee Lily, cameraman Hud and Hud's love interest, Marlena, Rob tries to make his way to midtown while avoiding a giant freakin' monster that trashes everything in its path, tiny freakin' monsters that seem to come off the big one and a military desperate to evacuate any survivors.

Told in this first person perspective, "Cloverfield" manages to be both intensely entertaining and totally infuriating. This is not the movie to see if you're the type of person that can't let go of certain standard movie conventions - you will never get an utterly clear look at the creatures, you will never learn what they are or where they come from. And you will never know the fate of certain characters. What you get is merely the slice of the pie. If movies were a SpikeTV series, "Pros vs Joes", "Cloverfield" absolutely about the Joes. We stay with our characters the entire time; whatever outside information they manage to gleam from news casts or quick statements from other people they meet is all we get.

As such, we have to let go of certain Hollywood conventions like cinematography, editing and music. The only music here is whatever is playing at the party before the action starts. Takes are long; the action is naturalistic and complex. Hud hits record, and then they go and go and go. Some entire conversations are spent looking at someone's feet or shoulders because Hud isn't looking through the viewfinder of the camera.

I could go on and on... but I won't. I'll say instead that this movie is every bit the ride I was hoping it would be.

And the teaser for "Star Trek" is badass.

SCORE:
A

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Closet Racist

Did you notice how similar the score over the end credits was to the original "Godzilla March"?

Brikar

I didn't... but I'm supposed to go see this again next weekend with a friend I haven't seen in a while, so I'll pay more attention. Apparently, there's something in the very last Coney Island shot to look for, too.

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."

http://olympusmans.blogspot.com
http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

Cymro

JJ Abrams in a Where's Wally costume?

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"But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."

Closet Racist

The end shot at Coney Island is very briefly talked about in this interview:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=41100

Stag

You know, saw this at the theater and again last night on DVD. I have to say it did not hold up as well for me. I was surprised because I enjoyed it in the theaters and was eager to see it again.

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Bean

The first time I saw it was a shitty cam version I downloaded (ironic no?) and I loved it. I watched a DVD copy of it recently and it was still good, but it doesn't seem to me to be a good "second viewing" movie.

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