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SUMMARY:
Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) has
scored a vice president’s job with a major company while still in his
twenties. As he prepares to move to Japan, he is given a surprise
going-away party by his brother and friends. His buddy Hud (T. J.
Miller) is assigned the task of shooting video of the party and
interviewing guests. But in the middle of the party, something horrible
goes wrong as New York comes under attack. Realizing the potential
significance of the footage, Hud keeps his camera rolling throughout the
ordeal.
STEVE SAYS:
Take the basic conceit of THE BLAIR
WITCH PROJECT (a horrific event recorded by amateurs on video), add a
multi-million dollar budget and first rate special effects and you have
what is perhaps the most realistic and believable horror film ever made.
CLOVERFIELD, in its stark 84 minutes, will keep you riveted to your seat
and, in the end, wishing it wasn’t over quite so quickly.
There is a good reason why you don’t recognize any of the names listed
above; the filmmakers wisely decided to cast unknowns from top to
bottom. The result makes the “amateur” video you are watching all the
more believable. Had you been watching Jake Gyllenhahl and Reese
Witherspoon negotiate this disaster, you would have been held at arm’s
length, constantly reminded that you are watching actors in a movie.
That isn’t the case here as the convention allows you to get lost in the
mounting horror.
The camera work is such a spot-on imitation of amateur video shooting
that it leads to the major negative of the experience of watching
CLOVERFIELD. The “home movie” convention of the film, while creating
such an air of total believability, has its drawbacks and they are not
minor; specifically, it is very difficult to watch shaky hand-held video
and constant swish pans for nearly an hour and a half. I found myself
needing to close my eyes every few minutes to regain my equilibrium and
avoid eye strain.
The other negative element is that the story could move along a little
quicker in the section prior to when the real action begins. While it
does take the time to lay out the characters’ relationships, it could
have been done a bit more efficiently.
Spoiler alert! In order to discuss the movie in greater detail, there
are a few things I need to mention that I would ordinarily not reveal.
So if you’re planning to see the movie and want to enter the theater as
clueless as I was about the plot, you should skip the next paragraph.
CLOVERFIELD turns out to be a monster movie at heart. While you might
first think it’s something along the lines of a megawatt 9/11, it is, in
fact, right out of the GODZILLA playbook. It’s a giant creature
attacking mid-town Manhattan. Because we are seeing the film from the
eyes of people caught in the middle of this horror, we get no pat
explanations as to where this beast came from or just what it is. But it
is fierce and rendered very believable by the computer generated images
as well as the shooting and editing of CLOVERFIELD. After you see this
movie, I guarantee you that you will never again want to watch a
GODZILLA movie, with its quaint man-in-a-rubber-suit destroying a
miniature cityscape. Indeed, the audience gasps at such sequences as
when the head of the Statue of Liberty crashes to the ground in the
middle of a midtown street.
The acting is taut and totally believable throughout. The actors sound
as though they are improvising their lines when, in fact, the film is
fully scripted by LOST writer Drew Goddard. Matt Reeves, another
television veteran (FELICITY, HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET) adds to the
realism with his frenetic, high energy direction. Both Reeves and
Goddard are TV associates of J. J. Abrams, who produced the film while
himself directing the next movie incarnation of STAR TREK. Abrams
appears to be assembling the same creative company of filmmakers to
render drama that Judd Apatow has done in the comedy realm.
For all its intensity, CLOVERFIELD isn’t terribly gory. The frantic
camera doesn’t linger long enough for any gross-out shots. So if gore is
your problem with horror movies, you can probably allow yourself to see
this film. It’s a stark, gripping entertainment.
* * * *
CHRIS SAYS:
CLOVERFIELD was awesome. Why do you
waste your time reading this? Go buy a ticket. Well since you are still
reading I guess I will have to do a review.
CLOVERFIELD is a movie I have been waiting for, a film that took the
time to set up the premise before the action started. I personally love
it when horror movies set up dominoes before knocking them over. Good
examples? JAWS, THE EXORCIST, POLTERGEIST, ALIEN...the list goes on. In
a lot of movies the main character says “Hi!” and is then attacked. It’s
not a bad thing but I just think a movie with a good setup is a plus. So
if you are like me you’ll enjoy the slightly long party sequence in the
beginning of the film.
Up until I saw the credits roll I would have sworn that all the lines in
the movie were improvised. They just had that spur of the moment feeling
to them. So it’s also a horror movie with good acting...yet another
reason to see this movie! (Still you insist upon sitting there, reading
the review).
Let’s talk about another subject near and dear to my heart, the CGI. It
was of the best I have ever seen. When a building collapses into itself,
it looks like a building collapsing into itself, with disturbing
comparisons to the Twin Towers on 9/11. When The Statue of Liberty’s
head flies over the cityscape and nearly takes out the camera man, you
are left with a feeling of shock and awe that defies description. The
CGI pulls you deeper into the film. I loved this movie.
* * * *
January 19, 2008 |
