Movie Review: Cloverfield
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
84 minutes
By now, you’ve probably heard something aboutCloverfield. Whether it was the original trailer that made the insufferable, shudder-inducing experience known as Transformers seem slightly less torturous, the movie proper that opened last Friday, or simple word-of-mouth from somebody who went to see it, you know about Cloverfield somehow. So here’s the buck-o-five on the movie: it’s a horror/thriller that has been described as “Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project.” It also happens to be the best film of its genre I’ve seen… ever, and quite possibly the most satisfying thing I’ve seen in a movie theater since 2006’s Children of Men. And I don’t even like horror movies.
So here’s the deal: Rob’s moving to Japan to tackle a new career. Or a promotion. I forget. It doesn’t really matter. Point is, Rob’s leaving, and his friends throw him a going-away party. Jason, Rob’s brother, wants to capture the sentiments of Rob’s closest friends on film, a task that he rather quickly places somewhat-dimwitted (and appropriately named) Hud in charge of. During the party, Rob’s once-flame Beth shows up with another guy. Things don’t turn out so well, Beth leaves early, and the atmosphere grows tense. That’s when a tremor rocks the apartment building. The gang sees a news report about a possible attack on Manhattan, they go to the roof to see what’s happening, and a distant explosion sends flaming rubble their way. One thing leads to another, and it is soon apparent that some sort of mammoth creature is, along with giant parasites that fell off its back, ripping the city to shreds. Rob learns, over his cell phone, that Beth is in trouble, and he resolves to go deeper into the crumbling city to save her.
J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot could have gone the Spielberg route, flowering up every character to ridiculous proportions and answering every little question about what the monster was, why it was so aggressive, where it came from, and so on ad infinitum. And if you’re one of those people who goes to movies only to see glorified flashing light shows, getting things spelled out for you word-for-word, ala Minority Report or War of the Worlds, is probably your cup of tea. But if you’re the sort who doesn’t like to have his intelligence repeatedly insulted, you’ve likely gained an appreciation for films that don’t give you all of the answers and leave you with something to ponder. Cloverfield is just that. You will not discover the monster’s origin. You will not see Rob Hawkins defeat the beast. You’ll have questions during the movie, and a good number of them will not be answered.
That is not to say that Cloverfield is an interpretive movie. Far from it; it is almost purely escapist. And that suits its unpretentious nature just fine. Characters are not spewing out lines for English professors to create case studies out of. The characters are real people reeking of genuine normalcy, caught up in a situation so much larger than them that they are easily overwhelmed. That, and because of how it is filmed, is why Cloverfield evokes feelings of empathetic horror, a claim that far too few so-called “horror” movies can accurately make.
You may think that eighty-four minutes is not enough time for a modern movie of this magnitude, but it ends up being just right. Some movies are guilty of being too short, others too long, but my inner Goldilocks was rather pleased. It is quite clear from the get-go that Cloverfield is a single story, and it doesn’t need eleventy billion plotlines and POVs to get the job done. The movie’s length is perfect, and its ending is utter cinematic brilliance; simple, yet magnificently profound.
If you go looking for Cloverfield’s cinematic score on CD, I doubt you’ll find it, because other than some modest music well into the closing credits, there is no musical score. I love music, don’t get me wrong, but Cloverfield doesn’t need it, and in fact its absence adds further to the film’s realism.
No movie is perfect, of course. There are a few minor plot irregularities present, not the least of which is the camera’s rather amazing durability. That durability on occasion extends to a couple of characters, as they survive what should otherwise have been rather lethal ordeals. I have heard complaints of headaches and motion sickness from moviegoers, and admittedly Cloverfield does suffer bouts of “shaky cam” (though I managed to follow along just fine). But those are minor nitpicks at best, and don’t heavily detract from what is otherwise an exceptional movie.
I don’t know what 2008 has in store for me as far as review titles go, but all are going to be hard-pressed to overcome Cloverfield. It’s an awesome movie in almost every way possible, expertly paced and masterfully executed. Do not miss out.
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