 By Johnny Firecloud | It's been a very long week, doing my damnedest not to talk about Cloverfield after seeing it three days ago. With all the insane hype surrounding this movie, you'd think there was no way it could live up to expectations. |
You'd think that the monster has to be a disappointment, the $30 million price tag can't allow it to compete with other Hollywood fare with seemingly unlimited budgets. Sure, you'd think all these things, but you'd be wrong. Put simply, Cloverfield kicks the shit out of any movie I've seen in recent memory.
I'm not here to give away any real spoilers or specifics, because there are enough places to find those. I'm just excited to talk about the best flick I've seen in a very long time.
The film centers on Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David), a young New Yorker who has just taken a new job in Japan. His friends and family throw a going away party for him the night before he's due to leave, and Rob's oafish friend Hud (T.J. Miller) reluctantly accepts the duty of documenting the event on Rob's camera. Unfortunately for Hud, his cameraman duties soon extend far beyond what he had bargained for. A tremendous explosion brings an abrupt end to the video send-offs from Rob's friends, sending everyone at the party to the roof to get a better view of the city. Confusion quickly turns to bald terror and desperation when another explosion hits in the distance, sending huge flaming projectiles in all directions - including directly at the partygoers.
Edited to look like it was filmed with one hand-held camera, the panicked camerawork in Cloverfield makes the shaky cinematography on The Blair Witch Project look like still life photography, but that's neither here nor there. Hud remains behind the camera for the majority of the film, stopping the tape at intervals to show others what he'd captured or to save battery life. It is in these interruptions that we discover original footage from a month earlier, inadvertently being taped over. It's a clever way to establish the backstory between Rob and his longtime friend Beth (the stunning Odette Yustman), who had only weeks earlier begun exploring their secret love for one another.
These cut scenes actually serve as the backbone of the story, as it is here that we come to understand the motives behind Rob's determination to stay in New York despite the full-scale evacuation due to, well, shit exploding everywhere, a massive monster that looks like a praying mantis/salamander hybrid, and a full-scale military assault against it: Beth is trapped in her Midtown apartment, badly wounded and alone.
Because we are only shown what Hud captures with the camera, we're much more than distant, safe witnesses to the confusion. We're right there amidst the heart-pounding panic as Hud, Lily (Jessica Lucas) and Marlena (Lizzy Caplan) follow Rob into the heart of Manhattan amidst the chaos and carnage in the streets, ignoring evacuation warnings, dodging falling debris from buildings, trying to avoid getting shot by the military or eaten by bloodthirtsy spider/crab mini-monsters. The most gripping aspect of Cloverfield is the fact that we're not given a distant, wide-angle view of the mayhem; when the group gets caught in the middle of a massive assault on the monster by the military, we're right there in the midst of it, breathless as the group we're following. The camera essentially becomes a character entirely unto itself, as it is through the frantic movement of the camera that we are able to truly become a part of the moment. The realism is further enhanced by the fact that there is no music, only the sound of buildings crumbling, people screaming, gunfire, confusion and a roaring, pissed off monster.
One of the best parts of the film is the fact that at no point does a scientist show up in a lab coat to explain what the monster is, where it came from, why it's so pissed off, etc. The tide of terror, shock and confusion never subsides once the mayhem begins, and we're right there along for the ride.
I can't tell you how the film ends, but it's everything your typical monster movie climax isn't. At the film's premiere on Wednesday, I asked Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard if there's any truth to speculation of a sequel, and he said he'd love to make one. I'll let you draw your own conclusions there.
Made for only $30 million, this low-budget film is more captivating, more visually gripping than most blockbusters with budgets five, six, even ten times that. Leaving the theater after Tuesday night's screening, I found myself wondering what the hell the studios spent all those millions on to make lukewarm "blockbuster" movies when such a jaw-droppingly awesome job can be done with so little financial backing. Granted, there are no big-name actors demanding $20 million paychecks, but it certainly doesn't look like any budget cuts were made in creating the monster or in the destruction of New York City.
Drew Goddard, producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves have created an undeniable classic that will not be forgotten like so many monster movies before it. It is a truly refreshing approach and a rewarding film experience, to say the least. Gripping to the final frame, Cloverfield is an experience that redefines the standards of what monster movies should be.
Take a look at these Cloverfield pics and our Cloverfield theories article from last September.
