Cloverfield
by Matt Reeves
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette YustmanDirector: Matt Reeves
Cinematographer: Michael Bonvillain
Editor: Kevin Stitt
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Running Time: 84 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-22
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Cloverfield
Movie Review: Standard Monster Flick with Some Impressive Visuals
Summary: 3 Stars
Cloverfield" is a J.J. Abrams-produced monster flick shot in "The Blair Witch" fashion. And I am not just talking about its shaky hand-held camera; its elaborate marketing tactics also reminds me of the 1999 maga-hit horror movie that turned out not so scary after all. I wouldn't be surprised if there is talk of making a sequel to "Cloverfield."
The difference is, I think, "Cloverfield," in which something huge and ferocious attacks Manhattan, is really scary when it wants to. The film has several nice shots of the monster and its attack with top-notch visual and sound effects. The process of the total destruction of the city is seen from the viewpoint of ordinary people, and some of the shots including the clouds of dust in the street after buildings collapse are realistic, obvious references to 9/11, but frankly I really don't know these references are necessary.
Interestingly, the film's digital camera approach, which is intended to create realism, often makes its images look more artificial. Characters are supposed to be running, but a guy named "Hud," obviously not a professional cameraman, manages to get great shots. He never misses a chance to shoot wherever he is, and he is very good at it, not a shot out of focus. And these people including Hud never really try to leave the city under siege.
But I maybe I shouldn't complain. The story of "Cloverfield" is only borrowing many elements from other numerous B-monster films, where a small group of main characters must do something heroic when the crowd is running for their lives, and the military is brave but always useless, and so on, the formula Spielberg did in "War of the World" (with the 9/11 references again). Without its digital camera and seasickness, "Cloverfield" is just a standard monster film with some nice visual effects.
Summary of Cloverfield
One of the first things a viewer notices about Cloverfield is that it doesn't play by ordinary storytelling rules, making this intriguing horror film as much a novelty as an event. Told from the vertiginous point-of-view of a camcorder-wielding group of friends, Cloverfield begins like a primetime television soap opera about young Manhattanites coping with changes in their personal lives. Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is leaving New York to take an executive job at a company in Japan. At his goodbye party in a crowded loft, Rob's brother Jason (Mike Vogel) hands a camcorder to best friend Hud (T.J. Miller), who proceeds to tape the proceedings over old footage of Rob's ex-girlfriend, Beth (Odette Yustman)--images shot during happy times in that now-defunct relationship. Naturally, Beth shows up at the party with a new beau, bumming Rob out completely. Just before one's eyes glaze over from all this heartbreaking stuff (captured by Hud, who's something of a doofus, in laughably shaky camerawork), the unexpected happens: New York is suddenly under attack from a Godzilla-like monster stomping through midtown and destroying everything and everybody in sight. Rob and company hit the streets, but rather than run with other evacuees, they head toward the center of the storm so that Rob can rescue an injured Beth. There are casualties along the way, but the journey into fear is fascinating and immediate if emotionally remote--a consequence of seeing these proceedings through the singular, subjective perspective of a camcorder and of a story that intentionally leaves major questions unanswered: Who or what is this monster? Where did it come from? The lack of a backstory, and spare views of the marauding creature, are clever ways by producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves to keep an audience focused exclusively on what's on the screen. But it also makes Cloverfield curiously uninvolving. Ultimately, Cloverfield, with its spectacular effects brilliantly woven into a home-video look, is a celebration of infinite possibilities in this age of accessible, digital media. --Tom KeoghFive 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
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