'Cloverfield' brings new twist to destruction
By Nick Knittel, Staff Writer
January 28, 2008 | 12:30 p.m.
Depending on who you talk to, J.J. Abrams, producer and creator of “Alias” and “Lost” and director of “Mission: Impossible 3”, is either a mad genius or Satan incarnate, and “Cloverfield” will undoubtedly divide viewers in much the same way.
Either you enjoy the mind games, the viral marketing and the plot teases, or they annoy the hell out of you. “Cloverfield” was born from the same heap of Internet rumor and speculation that “Snakes on a Plane” was, but they differ in many ways, namely where “Cloverfield” is actually good and “Snakes on a Plane” is definitely not. The film is not the second coming of Christ like some people have suggested (such as here), but its intentions are clear and the film succeeds in making the viewer part of the action, bringing us closer to the beast and all the terror left in its wake.
“Cloverfield” begins innocently, as they always do, with a party in New York. It seems Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David, “The Black Donnellys”) has just gotten a new job in Japan and his brother Jason (Mike Vogel, “Poseidon”) and Jason’s girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas, “The Covenant”) are preparing a surprise going away party for him. As the night goes on and the partygoers arrive, we’re introduced to best friend Hud (T.J. Miller, “Carpoolers”) who takes the camera in order to film confessionals from other friends. We meet Hud’s crush Marlena (Lizzy Caplan, “The Class”), and Beth (Odette Yustman, “October Road”), the complicated love interest for Rob.
As the twenty-something drama unfolds in what seems like slow motion, things finally pick up when the power goes out and an explosion/roar is heard throughout the city. Buildings blow up, people freak out, and before you can say, “Holy crap, that’s the head of the Statue of Liberty lying in the street,” the big monster sweeps through and the film rockets forward without looking back.
“Cloverfield” is told from the point of view of Hud as he films the proceedings. Not only does this interesting technique draw viewers into the film, but gives it a weird home-movies vibe that makes the action much more intense. One particular sequence in the subways works extremely well as Hud uses the camera’s night vision to lead the gang away from other pursuing creatures (presumably they’re parasites of some sort, but does it really matter?).
While the action and visceral excitement bring the film to wonderful highs, it suffers from “Godzilla” syndrome, the condition where we realize that, at the end of the day, we only came to the movie to see famous monuments destroyed and hundreds of people eaten. Character drama is not as important, and despite the film's desire to rise above the standard monster movie conventions, it fails in that regard. The only interesting and warm character is Hud, a genuinely sweet and humorous person who becomes accessible to the audience with his half-crazed theories on the monster’s origin, saying what every audience member is thinking when some stupid scenario is pursued: “Guys, we shouldn’t do this.”
There's just one problem with this: Hud is the camera man, and save for a few minutes near the beginning and end, he never removes himself from it.
Instead, we watch the other characters and their relatively shallow interface, giving us little regard over who lives and who dies, but almost instead rooting for the monster, who seems properly fleshed out despite its sole job of causing havoc. Aside from that, the monster doesn’t get a back-story. There is no military general walking around with secret documents detailing how it all happened or anything else. Aside from Hud’s musings on whether or not it’s a space alien or deep-sea creature, nothing is given, and it seems all the better and realistic (relatively speaking) for it. The monster itself appears with alarming frequency, and much more is actually revealed than you might think. While most of the action occurs in fast, blurry motions, there are several shots that should please even the most skeptical viewer and give them enough of an idea of what exactly is mucking about through the streets.
Once you leave the theater, it might become apparent that the only entertainment feature missing were shaking seats. “Cloverfield,” despite its shallow plot and character line, feels well suited for a theme park ride and will excite even the most passive of people. Producer J.J. Abrams seems to have his style hammered down, even when handing the directing reigns to Matt Reeves, a directing vet of TV’s “Felicity” of all things, and his style is one that’s sure to translate well to a multitude of other products in the future. God help me, but this does make the new “Star Trek” seem like it might just be good after all.
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“Cloverfield”
Running Time: 84 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence, terror, and disturbing images.
Speakeasy Rating: B+