Cloverfield Review
by [email protected] (sdo230 AT gmail DOT com)January 19th, 2008
Cloverfield
reviewed by Sam Osborn
There's something inherently rattling about Cloverfield. Like The Blair Witch Project, it is the majestic effort towards complete immersion that leaves us jacked on intensity as we leave the theatre. We're wired and nervy, walking our own healthy city streets simply because they haven't been destroyed by a gigantic monster. And in the way Blair Witch altered the walk in the woods, Cloverfield will alter the city stroll. The movie is severely affecting, and in its stab at progressive Hollywood filmmaking, Cloverfield is also wickedly hip.
Well I'll just give it away. It's a big monster; a slimy grey, possibly amphibious, multi-legged monster. If it met Godzilla, they would probably be friends. The catch is that this monstrosity sheds little, spider-like baddies that haunt the subway tunnels and other non-descript shadowy corners of the city. So the best kept secret in Hollywood is that the "thing" is exactly what you expected it to be. But therein lies the genius. Preying on the fears of terrorism and the eco-apocalypse that dwell in the overtones of all recent American media, Cloverfield bred insatiable curiosity as to what force could possibly level our grand Manhattan metropolis. The enigma surrounding this picture's marketing campaign is unmatched in Hollywood. And if the film proves to be a financial success, it will validate this brand of web-savvy, guerilla marketing.
That same enigma is actually pertinent to Cloverfield's story in that those controlling our first-person perspective aren't aware of what is leveling their city until nearly 45 minutes into the film, when they glance a news report finally revealing the creature. (If you've lived in a hole since July I guess you wouldn't know that Cloverfield is purveyed through the lens of a handheld camcorder.) And so the curiosity that piqued our interest during the previews is the same curiosity that terrifies our partygoers in Cloverfield. That multi- dimensional brand of filmmaking, where the audience feels the same interest as the characters, is where Cloverfield begins to magnetize you towards its fictionalized reality.
More than a stylized gimmick, the film's handheld perspective is an appeal to modern storytelling. Present pop culture has made a level playing-field for the common man to become a media superstar. We're voyeuristic culture-miners, sifting through everyman outlets like MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, "American Idol," until we find somebody's story worth telling. Witness the "Two Girls One Cup" phenomenon. This recent all-access pass to American lifestyles makes Cloverfield into a poster child for modern pop culture. It is how the story of our apocalypse would be told.
This profundity, however, would fizzle flat if the film didn't work. But luckily Cloverfield is a devastatingly exciting monster romp. The company behind and in front of the camera are calculatedly ordinary for the twenty-something generation. And Screenwriter Drew Goddard deals only with the matters directly at hand for his Joe Schmoe Heroes. There is no President or General to be seen, no rush to kill the monster. Our heroes simply want to make it from Spring Street to Columbus Circle. That's sixty blocks of city streets, subway tunnels, and shopping complexes to navigate while the world noisily collapses around them. Motivating the uptown journey is mispronounced love, where a man convinces his friends to join him in saving his unrequited love interest whose distress call came through voicemail.
Throughout all this slick CGI action, Cloverfield sticks to its gimmick, staying true to its own prescribed realism. And given the restrictions of using a single $1500 camera in a film with a budget as small as a rumored $25 million, young Director Matt Reeves manages to execute one or two of the finest monster moments in recent memory. One woman's death in particular will have you braced in shocked awe. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Cloverfield is a smart movie. It's horribly intelligent. And though they might not have written a new page in the American film canon, they've at least made some very pertinent edits to the textbook of modern storytelling. Sam Osborn
Cloverfield: Directed by Matt Reeves, Written by Drew Goddard, Starring Michael Stahl-David, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan. Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images.
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