Cloverfield, quickly

The short of it is that it's worth the hype. The long of it is spoilery and after the jump and not very long at all, really.

I most appreciate Cloverfield's economy, its ability to triumph over its considerable constraints. It is, first of all, PG-13 horror, a genre practically guaranteed to pussy out at the most unsatisfying places so as not to offend any delicate sensibilities. While the disembodiment in Cloverfield is kept to a minimum (which is to say: at a disappointing level for my taste), I never got the sense that the monster was anything less than a brutal threat, perhaps even a vindictive one. That we don't see more of its wrath written on bodies (or pieces of them) is testament to its power (it can crush people into nonexistence, right?). But it's also tangible evidence of the film's conceit: because we're only treated to what our man-on-and-running-from-the-scene cameraman can catch, the gratuitousness we'd be treated to in an R-rated flick just would not make sense here (or, at the very least, exclusion of blood and guts seems plausible). The shaky, always-moving camera just cannot catch much of anything, including the monster himself. And here's where more economy comes in: the film was made for $25 million, says Entertainment Weekly, and from the offset, was promised to be brought in at under $30 million from J.J. Abrams. No Cloverfield character knows anything aside from snatches they pick up via serendipitous news broadcasts because they can't really see anything: the whole point is to get as far away from the monster as possible. Besides, if anyone gets too close, surely he or she will face wrath. And so, in one swoop, fear of the unknown is exploited in the most money-saving, MPAA-soothing way possible. It's as though the film itself is highly evolved (in its commercially cinematic way). It is truly, a sight to behold.

I loved so much of it: the conceit, the commentary on our documentary culture (a relevant spin on the found-footage template brilliantly arranged by Cannibal Holocaust), the snatches of information we are given (the fake news broadcasts felt so real, that still days later when I turn on CNN, my first impulse is relief that the whole monster thing isn't still going on ), the monster itself (kind of reptilian, kind of amphibious, kind of insect-like...the more I saw it, the more I wanted to know about it). And the stuff that I loved, I really loved. It, in my mind, all was adequate compensation for the aspects of the film that were fucking horrible, namely all of the characters. I really thought that the first 20 minutes of watching these annoying voids fret over their one-dimensional socializing would serve as a contrast to the catastrophe that materializes (i.e. see how all petty problems are put into perspective in the face of disaster?), but no: that fretting persists and ends up driving the idiot characters to do idiotic things like completely abandoning any fight-or-flight impulses for puppy love and/or a lemming-like attachment to the sufferer of puppy love. The Rob character (played by Michael Stahl-David) is such an asshole for putting himself and his friends at considerable risk to first travel from downtown to midtown to find this dead chick he banged. Once there, he proves to be an even bigger asshole for attempting to get to her by ascending the building adjacent to hers (since hers has been attacked and is, in fact, leaning up against it) and finally leaping from that building to hers. And then, he proves to be a bigger asshole still, for when he finally reaches her and she's dead from a spike driven through her body, he talks to her. And then, she's turns out to be the biggest asshole of all for actually being alive and coming to at the exact moment her help has arrived. It's so fucking stupid, but not more stupid than a cell phone working in a subway station. Even though Mark claims that the Spring Street station does get full service, that probably at least depends on the service provider and would be less likely since the city is, you know, in a state of pandemonium and the cell towers have most likely been demolished. The only thing that's more fucking stupid than that is what happens when Rob answers his phone: he says, "Mom?" For all the melodrama that the movie promotes, Douglas Sirk should get an honorary writing credit.

All of this is to say that I just wished the film had followed a different group of people as they were affected by those first few hours of the monster attack (and because that could very well be the case, I think sequel possibilities, following different parties and their ordeals, are endless). If only the characters were as extraordinary as the events depicted, I'd have no problem labeling Cloverfield a classic. For now, it'll just have to settle with being iconoclastic.

Comments

[ekar]

Also, I would have hated to have been in NY on 9/11 and to have seen that movie.

[momorg]

Sigh, I wish there had been commentary on our documentary culture but the film seemed to have no subtexts whatsoever. Nice Cannibal Holocaust shout out though. Also, everyone goes on about the subway sequence, it might just be me, but it felt pretty similar to the underground night vision attack in 28 weeks later which was more effective.

[Liz]

I just came back from seeing it. I really wanted to see what people thought of it on here because after the movie was over, people did not say one word in the theater. I liked the movie; I didn't love mainly because of the characters. I couldn't believe these girls ran around the city in heels! What was more unbelievable was the dead girl coming to life when Rob got to her. SOOO CHEESY. I knew they were going to die together.

The beginning of the film got me a little dizzy. My friend almost walked out! LOL Overall, I liked the movie. I was a little bit uncomfortable when they hid in the convenience store. I'm a New Yorker, and 9/11 doesn't seem like that long ago to me. I was a little bit uneasy, and it brought back bad memories. The only thing that got me about the movie is how the guy kept filming when the monster was right near him. LOL I know it's for the sake of the movie, but I would have been running fast as hell instead of standing there staring at the monster. ;)

[August]

What I want to know is: what the hell did all the viral marketing on the internet have to do with this movie? (John Haas Was Right, or whatever it was called). In the end, it was just a new way of doing a monster movie. Saved, at least for me, by the fact that I found the main character really handsome. But I'm easy to please like that...

[md]

For me, the viral marketing made the film better. There's a whole back story and resulting theories on how things came to be. It just makes it more of an experience than just watching a movie because there is also, as my friend calls it, "homework" involved. But I guess you have to be really into the movie to do all that.

And I couldn't believe the heel thing either. Ugh, I think at some point I would risk the bottoms of my feet and go barefoot. If Lily didn't want to steal from the store or a corpse, she could have at least asked Beth if she could borrow some flats or sneakers after they un-impaled her.

And I didn't mind all of the non-answers in the film. The film was purely from their perspective, and they didn't know what the hell was going on either.

[Pig]

And maybe I missed it but Hud got the camera from Rob's brother right? There was all that annoying footage of the brother and the gf in the beginning. So why was there footage of Rob and Beth at the end? Do they share a camera?

[ariane]

there's a strange banner on your site for something called "Cerebral Itch" that makes generically "funny" t-shirts... BUT, I think ANTM's good 'ol Brittany (the funny one, not the one with the ratty Barbie hair) is their model. Anyone else?

[superlotado]

@ Pig: at the very beginning of the movie, Rob's brother says "I don't know how to use this, it's not even my camera." So we're supposed to believe he got the camera from his brother, and started recording on the tape that was already in it, which had the footage of Rob and Beth on it. Rob freaks out about it during the party when he asks Hud about it and realizes he's taping over his precious day with Beth.

Anyway, I pretty much agree with this review. I liked lots of things about the movie but disliked some too. I didn't feel the stupid characters or their stupid decisions ruined it for me because that's just par for the course in these kinds of movies, and also I was pretty much expecting it due to JJ Abrams' involvement. If the characters in any of his tv shows or movies ever acted logically, the whole thing would be over in about 5 minutes.

And the girl who went splat did so because she was infected with something when she got bit--thought that was pretty obvious.

[mark]

JC: "But here's my bigger complaint: As someone who was working and living in the city during 9/11, I found a few of the scenes to be extraordinary uncomfortable. Watching NY1 with a group of panicky people to find out what's happenning? Been there. Hiding out in a convenience store while a cloud of smoke/soot washes through the streets? Yeah, been there, too. I almost had to walk out at that point because I started to freak out a little. And it wasn't because it was such an effective horror movie--I think it was more because I was being manipulated."

Sorry I guess JJ Abrahms forgot that EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU. Get over it for chrissakes....

[Carmine]

Just saw the movie, I liked it (?) I'm still feeling ill...

I read on another site that the very end of the credits there's a "It's still alive" comment. Also, I read about something falling into the water at Conney Island it the end of the film. The producers have apparently stated that any sequel will deal with other groups of people and the events from their perspectives...so basically we could have the same movie 100000000x over.

[SKR]

I just finished seeing the movie, and I surprisingly did not have a problem with the characters. They are really not that different than a lot of the people you would meet on an everyday basis. Sure, they seem to have more money and status, but frankly most people prattle on about their lives in such a manner. I think that just magnified the scope of the catastrophe, that money and status won't protect you in a disaster, the stakes for everyone are equal. This first person cameraman style of filmmaking is SO much better served by this story than Blair WItch Project could ever have hoped to be. Disasters are most commonly understood best by people when its felt on an intimate, human level. The conceit of having the events of the film restricted to the limited subjectivity of some of the random people experiencing it brilliantly encapsulates that sense of dismay and desperation, of being lost in a familiar place rent by quicksilver destruction, and it facilitates that Lewton-esque belief in the terrifying power of suggestion over the obvious. And the seamless echoes of 9/11 without resorting to trite didacticism and tacky dialogue was really impressive. When was the last time a piece of enjoyable popular entertainment said so much so effortlessly?

[Shazz]

Well said, SKR. I'm looking forward to getting the dvd.

[erik]

While I liked the premise and the creature design, I thought the bulk of the movie was just idiotic.

The movie would have been 1000% more powerful if they had just discarded the folly of the handheld camera and switched to a third-person perspective. There is a lot to be said for shooting from the impersonal angle of 3rd person... I found myself wondering the WHOLE time why the hell Hud would ever keep filming. Why, after being attacked inthe subway, would he pick up the camera. Why he would film rather than help his friend carry his "girlfriend" across the chasm between the towers of Time Warner Center. It was a colossaly bad decision.

I'm totally fine with limiting the amount of information provided about the creature; I don't need to or want to what the thing is. I'm also totally fine with following a limited group of characters around and seeing things from only their point of view (although I would have preferred a slightly smarter group of characters that don't blindly run into the mayhem). Just lose the stupid handy-cam, I mean who uses these things anymore anyway?

In addition, the actual direction of plot could have used some serious adjustment. I mean, whose decision was it to inject them into the maelstrom through the contrivance of having them rescue the one-night-stand at TWC? There were so many other ways they could have come into contact with the creature and parasites. The Brooklyn Bridge was destroyed; they could have had to run the gauntlet through the Holland Tunnel, or trying to get to the Lincoln Tunnel.

Just bad decisions that resulted in a weak film.

[?????]

I find it rather interesting that so many of us have deemed ourselves expert critics by addressing the obvious flaws in this film, myself included. I only can speak for myself but when I decide to go to see a movie, particularly a sci-fi/fantasy/horror movie, I go to be entertained- and nothing more.
Movies are fantasies, stories with many limitless possibilities, not reality based depictions of what would happen if we had a gigantic monster land unexpectedly smack dab in the middle of one of the most populated cities in the United States.
Funny thing is that for all credited with the creation, production and especially the marketing associated with this release, all of our comments, good, bad and those that don't know how to use spell check - only reinforce the genius behind the scenes that helped make this film so popular.

-JAMIE
I LEFT THE THEATER READY TO SEE THE FILM AGAIN, 7 HOURS LATER STILL CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT...(um, and I agree with all of the complaints that no girl can last that long running through the streets in heels)

[Elizabeth]

Personally, I like my horror/disaster movie characters good and dumb. Most people's brains go flying straight out the window when a crisis hits, because they've got no training and no experience. Even smart people end up going back for the cat sometimes.

[lattegirl]

Until now I have studiously avoided reading the spoilers for this movie, but because Rich wrote a review, I couldn't resist. Now I know I'll be renting the DVD, not paying theatre prices.

PS: I can shop for up to eight hours in heels. They should cast me in the sequel.

[sir jorge]

The marketing of this film seems far too much like someone got paid to promote it online.

[K]

I just saw the movie last night (finally) and came back to read Rich's review. I thought they should have just sent Beth out to fight the monster since she was, you know, immortal and all...

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. I was very entertained. I hope there is a sequel.

[Tom]

Weak character development. You really could not cheer for anybody except the monsters.

If they had deep likable, GOOD characters, this would have been such a better movie.

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[christian louboutin]

What a nice photos and paintings that I have never see before!Just a small requirement,can you post a tutorial on the HDRI?I am really have difficulty of getting any real one with this.Thank you very much in advance.