Cloverfield

STARRING: Michael Stahl-David, Lizzy Caplan View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 01/18/2008 DATE SCREENED: 01/15/2008 The Verdict GOOD - See it in the theater

What is Cloverfield? That is the question I have been asking myself ever since I saw the trailer before a screening of Transformers. That first trailer didn’t even have a title, so I was actually asking “WTF”, as I watched the indelible image of the Statue of Liberty’s head rolling down the street. I had to do a lot of research just to find out the title of the movie. The J.J. Abrams produced film has been shrouded in mystery up until now. This brilliant marketing ploy completely worked on me. I eagerly anticipated this release as much as I would anticipate any summer blockbuster. And now that I’ve seen Cloverfield, I’m asking myself… what does “Cloverfield” mean?

The film opens by saying that this video footage has been found in Central Park. The rest of the film is seen through the lens of this video camera. The cameraman, Hud, is documenting the going away party for Rob, who is moving to Japan. Rob has an argument with his best female friend, Beth, who he has always wanted to be more than friends with. She spent the night in his bed recently, but then showed up at the party with a date. She abruptly leaves after the argument, putting a damper on the party. But that is the least of everyone’s worries. Not long afterward there is a loud noise that grabs everyone’s attention. People run to the roof, where there is a large explosion in the distance. Everyone runs down towards the street, where all hell breaks loose, starting with the Statue of Liberty’s head rolling down the street. Buildings are being knocked down, apparently by a huge monster, and ash is covering the streets of NY like during 9-11. The military is quickly on the scene to evacuate and attack the monster. During the evacuation, Rob gets a call from Beth saying that she is stuck in her apartment. Rob, two female friends, and Hud decide to go rescue her. The tension builds as they must not only evade the path of the huge monster, but escape from smaller creatures that fall off the monster’s back. It becomes a roller coaster ride from there that abruptly ends in about 90 minutes. And I enjoyed the ride!

Going into the film I wasn’t sold on the idea of seeing an entire film from the point of view of a video camera, as I never liked Blair Witch Project. But in Cloverfield, it’s done better than I could have hoped. The cameraman, Hud, is a likeable guy who always has a funny line to release the tension. And there is a lot of tension. At times you are right there as the monster tears down buildings and fends off the military. I wish I could describe the monster, but it’s indescribable. It’s not like anything I’ve seen, and you only see if for brief moments when the camera swings its way. Since Hud is always on the run, or hiding, he doesn’t spend too much time filming the monster.

Some people might be disappointed that they never get to see more of the monster, and nothing dealing with the monster is ever explained. You don’t get those typical scenes of the military explaining things and planning their attack. The movie is all about Rob, Beth, and their 3 friends dealing with this horrible situation. The movie would have been better if all of these twenty-somethings were as likeable as Hud, but the rest of them seem like spoiled, pretty, rich kids that you don’t really care that much about. And the idea that they would be brave enough to go back towards the monster, and into a building that looks like it’s about to fall down, in order to attempt to save Beth is pretty ridiculous. If you don’t think about that too hard you should have fun with this movie. The special effects are completely seamless, as this is a far cry from the old Godzilla movies. This is the movie about the people who ran away from Godzilla in those old movies. It’s very intense, sometimes scary, and very entertaining. It doesn’t completely live up to the hype, but I’d recommend that you see this in the theater. It does bug me that I still have no idea what the title “Cloverfield” means!