Cloverfield-First 30 Minutes Is Pure Crap
Massive problems aside, once “stuff starts blowing up” and you adjust to the stupidity of uninterrupted handheld; Cloverfield actually does a nice job. Cloverfield is sort of Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project meets War of the Worlds. Now, I am not saying the monster is an alien, just that there is a War of the Worlds feel to it all. Regardless, once the carnage begins, the movie does deliver a pretty effective punch.
You may be tempted to leave the theater during the foolishness that is roughly the first third of the movie, don’t.
Of course, you are wondering about the monster. It is an interesting enough CG creation and most will be impressed. I would, however, argue that a little South Korean film by the title, The Host, might have had something to do with Cloverfield. Watch The Host for yourself after Cloverfield and see what you think.
Usually I know when I am writing a review whether or not the film is a hit or a miss and I would have to guess that Cloverfield will be at least a minor hit due to the film’s respectfully small budget of somewhere under $30 million dollars. That is a pretty tiny amount of cash by Hollywood standards, so a profit on Cloverfield is almost a slam-dunk.
No doubt I have my problems with this film. Abrams and director Matt Reeves probably think they are genius for the handheld camcorder crap. Not true, its so annoying, dear God, is it annoying. Many will differ, as they will feel that solidarity with Reeves and Abrams means that they too are part of a de facto film inteligencia, and they would be wrong. Yes, the handheld draws you in, however, it would have been so much more effective if used in only part of the film. Shoot the horrible party sequence garbage (seriously its garbage) in a more traditional manner, and then switch to handheld. Or simply cut out the majority of the disastrous, boring and painful party crap. Film students and posers will be tempted to shout the brilliance of Reeves and Abrams on the camcorder crap. Refrain.
Like so many of Hollywood’s films, in Cloverfield the filmmakers think they have a message to deliver and will stoop down to the level of the masses and feed us what we want to see, in order to get that message out there. But in the end their message and messages are far less profound than they may suspect.
Story D- (Monsters attack. Idiots run about. Military takes a crack at them. There is not much new in the story department here. In fact, the script must be a riot on paper. Cloverfield is definitely a film that expects the visual effects department to do all the work. This is especially true considering the lazy manner in which the film is shot. Don’t fall for the inevitable behind the scenes doc on the DVD that talks about how hard this was to shoot. Please.)
Acting B (The acting is good, not that you really care much about the characters, because you don’t. Just kill them already.)
Visuals B- (This is a weird grade to give out. Cloverfield, once the blood starts flowing, is visually interesting and a bit unique, but up until that point you will suffer its stupidity.)
Originality/Innovation C- (Visually innovative at times but about as original as a sitcom. Cloverfield is really, truly devoid of story.)
Enjoyability Grade C+ (Take my advice, walk in at least ten minutes late. Here is all you miss: jerky frat boy is getting a big time job in Japan, he has a love interest and there is a party for his dumb ass. The term “bro” gets thrown around some.)
Home Theater/HD Factor C+ (I pity the person that tries to watch this on a tiny screen. People on airplanes are totally screwed with this one. If you have any interest in seeing this film, you should probably do it in the theater. Even off Blue-Ray, the experience will not be the same.)
Overall Grade C+ (Edit down the first thirty minutes into, say ten or twelve and the score would certainly be higher. I know people will say all the amateur footage stuff is genius. It-is-not. As for invoking the images of 9-11, well, maybe the filmmakers are making a political statement, or maybe they’re just hiding behind the notion of making a political statement in order to exploit the events and imagery of that day. You’ll have to make that call.)
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