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Cloverfield
I'm going to make this a very useful review for a lot of people.
One, for those who don't want any spoilers: Something is attacking Manhattan. Don't read further!
Two, for those who have seen trailers and don't mind a little reveal: Big, huge, fucking ugly monster tearing shit up, big time. No more reading!
For the last group, the longer review is for you; it will have spoilers, but even the spoilers aren't that spoiler-y if you've ever seen any sort of "Huge Monster Attacking Somewhere" movie. Let's begin.
I'll start by saying that I enjoyed every shaky, noisy moment of Cloverfield. During the opening quarter, when the camera was always focused on the party-goers, I became scared that they would concentrate on that particular group and we would never quite get to see any of the havoc and mayhem that I just knew would be coming. The very first shake of the city sent a chill through my spine even if every one else was running around blaming "earthquakes" and "terrorists", I knew, knew something gigantic was coming their way. That chill was exhilaration. I could not wait for the next scene and the scene after that. Cloverfield had me by the balls, figuratively speaking, almost from minute one. In my heart of hearts, I was hoping I was sitting there to experience a "true" American Godzilla-esque movie. Don't bother me with unnecessary plot, I'm here for the monster.
I will say though, the cast, both male and female, were good choices for their parts. I don't think I have heard one bad thing about the person who played Hud. Many have even said he made the movie, but I think they are forgetting the HUGE MONSTER that tossed the STATUE OF LIBERTY'S HEAD around like a crumpled piece of paper. Yes, yes, I will almost always side with the monster. I will admit, Hud did provide comic relief and while I don't necessarily need intentional comedy in monster movies, for some reason, I think his actions actually made the camera handling easier to handle. During the party, all I could think was, "God, I hope it won't be like this the whole time."; but then when he got scared or spouted off, the camera was easily forgotten.
The opening scenes are of a going away party for Rob, now a Vice-President for a company in Japan. The party is thrown by his brother Jason and his girlfriend, Lily. There are, of course, scenes where an "ex" comes around to say good-bye and everything seems tense and as Rob is regretting showing Beth the door, the whole city shakes. That could not have come at a better time! Disasters never happen at the right time! It's like they are on some schedule of their own. For while, everyone is just trying to find someone to get comfort from before they decide to turn the TV on and figure out what the hell happened. There is news of a huge oil tanker flipped on its side and this is where we run into a little contention. Did the monster rising from the sea and hitting the tanker cause it to flip? Or did the disturbance from the flip awake the monster? As far as I know, they never really tell where the monster comes from, especially not during these opening reports. However, the military was able to assemble quite quickly.
As I said before, the movie is shot through a hand-held camera (which also had night-vision, a flashlight, and an extremely powerful microphone). There were two people who wandered out after ten or so minutes, assumedly because of queasiness. These people are pussies. Until I see you have a seizure, sit your ass back down and watch the movie! Anyway, so with a supposed bare minimum of video quality, I expected a lot of shots of the group (Jason, Rob, Marlena, Beth, Lily, Hud) sitting in the darkness talking to themselves, snot dripping down their face. We were spared that and what we got were some of the best use of camera angles and lighting. The lower lighting elements allowed for both the monster and the parasites that repelled from it, to look extremely creepy. They never gave away too much when showing the creatures in the movie. Of course, by the end of the movie, I was tilting and turning my head all over the place trying to orientate myself with the screen.
There really is no other way for a film like this to end, especially with it being filmed in America, more focused on the interests of the American audience, and such. A lot of us want retribution, we want shock and awe. Shoot now, ask questions later. And you know what, with something that enormous knocking on my door, I sure as hell hope there is a tank sitting outside my door waiting for it. After the normal, useless attempts by the United States Military, they decide to bring in the big guns; B-52 bomber jets. So you have a choice, be bombed or bitten in half. I won't tell you who chose what, but I will say there were some very fun deaths in this movie. The ending leaves the movie WIDE open for a sequel, especially considering the track at the end of the credits. Apparently, playing forward it says "Help Me" and playing backward "It's still alive." (or something of that nature). This movie was a blast. No pun intended to those who have watched this.
By the way, I need whatever camera/battery combination Hud was running around with. That thing was awesome. The creature designs were spectacular, as well. I wish AvP:R would have taken a few lessons from Cloverfield in the preduction of some ferocious creatures.
3.6 / 4.0
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