Cloverfield
By Jason Revill
Well after months and months of internet rumor and speculation Cloverfield is finally here. Now, my childhood without cable really forced me to develop a taste for all the Godzilla films that my local television station on occasion would show in lieu of afternoon programming. I admittedly am a fan of Alias and Lost, but since J.J. Abram’s also wrote and directed Mission Impossible III and had a hand in writing Armageddon, he still has to prove himself to me.
The night before Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is planning to leave for a new job in Japan, his friends decide to throw him a going away party. Everyone is having a good time even though some unresolved feelings are brought up and there’s quite a bit of whispering about Rob’s relationship with his longtime friend Beth (Odette Yustman). Unfortunately, before anything can be worked out there appears to be an earthquake bringing the party to a sudden halt. In order to assess the damage everyone heads up to the roof just in time to see an explosion in the distance. As the destruction moves closer Rob and his friends head to the streets in a desperate attempt to avoid whatever it is that is destroying New York City.
Admittedly, there isn’t a lot of strong acting in this film, however they do what they need to get the job done. For the most part the party at the beginning looks like a hipster casting call. If the people didn’t give it away, the fact that they play Kings of Leon, Spoon and a little Parliament for good measure should. That being said Lizzy Caplan as Marlena and T.J. Miller as the unfortunately nicknamed Hud deserve a mention. Paul Newman he ain’t, but being behind the camera we don’t see that much of Hud. He does offer a few one-liners that are delivered perfectly to release a little tension in a movie that otherwise would have few breaks. Besides, Hud is that friend who’s just a big dumb animal that everyone has or should have.
A lot of people are making a huge deal out of the frenetic sort of neo-vérité camerawork, which seems kind of pointless to me. If your running around shouting “Blair Witch! Blair Witch!” you’re sort of missed the point, not to mention The Blair Witch Project is a shameful rip off of Cannibal Holocaust. Yes, I said shameful. It’s essentially the same movie, right down to the “is it real or fake” marketing. Cannibal Holocaust is still banned in some countries due to the graphic mistreatment of animals and the fact that rumors of it being a snuff film still circulate. But, I digress. Cloverfield is a ground level disaster movie with people scurrying like rats to safety. What did you expect it to look like? I don’t think putting the camera on a tripod or a steadicam would have accurately portrayed the level of confusion and carnage that is going on around the characters. These people weren’t screaming “Saving Private Ryan!” when The Blair Witch Project came out.
Focusing so much on the camera work really takes away from what is so great about this film: the story. Now I know you’re going to say that wait there is no story here it’s just a bunch of people screaming and running from a monster. Au contraire mon freir. What’s great about Cloverfield is that it’s a giant monster movie, but instead of it being about the monster it’s about the people in its path. Normally, folks in these movies are relegated to a couple different roles: the general who is killing the thing, the scientist who realizes it is misunderstood, the guy pointing and screaming “Gojira!” or the little Asian kid who can inexplicable enter and exit government facilities at his own discretion. Here, at this level of sheer panic, the hows and whys aren’t really as important as whether or not you can get to safety with the people you care about in one piece. And really isn’t that all you need? This movie is from the point of view of those who are on the ground level. They are confused and don’t understand what’s going on, so we’re confused and don’t understand what’s going on. Do we even need some pointless over explanation or some pretentious environmental/political message like in the The Host? There is no real message or agenda to Cloverfield, but why would you expect one?
There’s only fifteen minutes at the beginning of this film before the action begins, so there isn’t that much time for developing character, but that in a sense is what’s smart about this film. These people, like most everyone, are kind of shallow and spend much of their time worried and gossiping about the petty little crap. Let’s face it most of us aren’t solving world hunger. Hell, I’m writing a movie review. What’s great is that when the sh*t hits the fan, these self absorbed semi-douches and all their petty little crap are rendered completely meaningless. Not only is their city being destroyed, the things that were so important five minutes ago are completely leveled
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