Cloverfield [Blu-ray]
Starring: Mike Vogel, T.J. Miller, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, Odette YustmanDirector: Matt Reeves
Studio: Paramount
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Running Time: 84 minutes
DVD Release: June 3rd 2008
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DVD Review
Widescreen Blu-Ray Cloverfield. Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman,Jessica Lucas,T.J. Miller. Director: Matt Reeves. Rating: PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images
User Reviews
Cloverfield - Rating: 4/5
Its a great monster movie for the times we live in since we dont see that many monster movies out anymore. Other than the camera angle its worth buying it.
Time for some shock therapy people... - Rating: 5/5
WAKE UP!
Just in case you were sleeping and didn't notice, I gave this movie five stars. Yep, that's right; I gave `Cloverfield' an A. I know what you are thinking. `He's crazy.' Maybe I am, but the truth of the matter is (and I've stated I rate each film according to genre as well as overall entertainment and artistic value) that for the type of film `Cloverfield' is, and for the type of film it makes claim to be, there really isn't much more you could ask from it.
I mean, honestly; what isn't right about this picture?
The film is crazy suspenseful, action packed, gripping, witty, enthralling, memorable; I mean I can't think of a single thing that I would have changed. The script may be a little cookie cutter but the execution is fresh and intriguing and adds layers that aren't there on paper. Visually it is superb, using the very underused `less is more' tactic in order to create true suspense and fear; and when it does insert CGI in order to give us some brief glimpses of this `creature' in order to validate our fear it is top notch. Casting a group of unknowns adds to the feeling of reality that sets in, which only increases the fear.
I mean, really; watch this movie in the dark and tell me you weren't pulling your feet up on the couch and checking behind you at every creak in your house.
The concept is simple; a group of friends get together to wish one of their own a bon voyage when the city is attacked by some creature and they are scattered. They travel together with a handheld camera through the city to rescue a friend who is injured and wind up documenting something unbelievable.
A little side note for those of you who have either complained about the shaky camcorder style filming or are biting at the bit to do so; DON'T. Listen, I understand you don't want to get sick or whatever, but the camcorder filming is the whole point of this movie. If you know that that type of filming doesn't bode well with you then don't bother watching this movie. Seriously, to complain about a directorial choice that is more than explained to you in the trailer for the film and that serves as the whole foundation for the film is rather ridiculous. This movie, stripped of that shaky frame, would not be the same film. It is meant to pull you in to the action and make you feel a part of it, and it does that very thing.
Anyways.
I admit, this isn't a thought provoking drama or a brooding character study, but it isn't trying to be. Sure, sci-fi or even horror films are allowed to stray into deeper territories and I encourage that wholeheartedly, but for a film that claims to be nothing more than a sci-fi thriller I can't fault it a thing. It is what it says it is, and it is really, really good at what it says it does.
My husbands favorite - Rating: 4/5
My husband saw this in the theater twice and so I bought it for him. He loved it! Can't tell what the monster is and the entire movie is with a handheld camera. Couldn't watch in theater for motion sickness but was fine at home.
Apocalypse Then And Apocalypse Now - Rating: 4/5
- In the 56 years since the release of the original Gojira / Godzilla Deluxe Collector's Edition (Gojira/Godzilla [1954] / Godzilla, King of the Monsters [1956]) , the intent, themes and protagonist of that film have been changed, redefined and remodelled so many times to the point that it now exists in the Western zeitgeist as an amusing pop cultural shorthand for bad special effects and ridiculous plots. The unadulterated Japanese cut of the film, which has only been released in the west relatively recently, is a stark warning against the misuse of Atomic energy released in a country that less than a decade before had suffered its defining moment of the twentieth century at the hands of the Atom bomb. At the time of its release, the first generation of 'Hibakusha' were still suffering the direct effects of the atrocities committed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the scenes of municipal halls crammed to capacity with people suffering radiation sickness, the wholesale destruction of Tokyo, and the unforgettable scene of a nation mourning its loss through a choral radio broadcast would've struck a deeply horrific, resonant chord with the Japanese audience of its time. Time and the Toho company's lucrative franchise have almost completely eroded the original power and intent of the film from history and replaced it with a farrago of sequels featuring increasingly outlandish monsters duking it out in badly realised model cities. Considering this, I'd argue that 'Cloverfield' is probably the only true spiritual sequel to Ishiro Honda's film ever made in that it uses more or less the same concept to similarly examine a defining moment of national history and evoke the horrors of a collective international tragedy and its aftermath. In this case, that moment is the 911 attacks and the nation is America and, by association and the proliferation of more technologically advanced broadcast technologies, the world. 911 haunts every frame of the film. When one observes the shaky hand-held vistas of ash-covered New Yorkers hiding in grocery stores to avoid the billowing detritus of falling buildings, one can't help but relate it to the footage captured by the French film-makers, the Naudet bros. in the haunting documentary, 9/11 - The Filmmakers' Commemorative Edition. There have been a lot of questions asked around the subject of whether it was tasteful or indeed right to frame a "monster movie" in a verite style which mimics video footage of a national tragedy. To those people I would say, "you're missing the point". While nominally a monster movie in appearance, 'Cloverfield' is really no more about a giant undersea arthropod than 'Gojira' was about a giant lizard; both are merely cyphers for forces in our daily lives which could run out of control and devastate our world and both are filmed in a style which is evocative and relevant to the audiences of their time. The creatures of both stories are barely seen - a stylistic choice which suggests that one should not attach too much importance to the cause but rather the effects. The reasons behind the destruction in Cloverfield remain nebulous and unresolved and as the final haunting frames of the film draw to the close, it is ultimately the human cost of the destruction that the audience is left to consider rather than the origins of its agent.
Godzilla meets the Blair Witch Project - Rating: 2/5
Not the worst movie ever made, but the intentionally jerky camera work is annoying. They spent some money making it, and the special effects are good, if you can get past the camera work, I couldn't. At least the equally disappointing Blair Witch Project had an excuse (for the camera work, not the story line), no budget. I didn't like the lack of explanation for what was happening either. Normally, part of my enjoyment of a film is when they tie everything together and you understand what is happening. It's a cop out when they "leave it to your imagination", meaning they didn't have the imagination to tie it all together.
