Movie Review - Cloverfield

This is the ticket to the best movie of the year so far:

Actually, Cloverfield could well turn out to be the best movie of 2008.

Cloverfield is more than a movie. It is an experience. A ride. A gripping, edge of your seat, in your face adrenaline shot. It is must see stuff. Walking out of the cinema after it ended I was elated. My heart was pumping, I had a grin from ear to ear and I just wanted more. Not many movies make you feel that way.

If you had seen any previews of Cloverfield, you will have a rough idea of what it is about. Some unknown thing attacks New York, the whole event is filmed by a bunch of twentysomethings, and the film is found by the Department of Defense in the area 'formerly known as Central Park'. The movie poster gives a bit of a taste of what to expect:

So yes, Cloverfield is a monster movie. But it is done a bit differently to the typical monster movie, and it is done extremely well. The film is shot in the 'Blair Witch' style, and it is all about really putting the audience in the middle of the action. As a monster movie, Cloverfield is pretty good. But it is the immersive way that it is shot that makes it special. Some people have found the handheld camera technique offputting (and I have to admit that generally I dont like it myself, but in this case it was very effective), and the lack of any real soundtrack is something different. But the whole thing makes for a totally real, believable experience.

The movie does a fantastic job of capturing the chaos, confusion and fear that would be felt in the face a large scale disaster. Some reviewers have panned the characters as being stupid, and without commonsense, and others have said that the movie really highlights a self centred obsession apparently present in "generation Y". Yes, I agree that the decision made by Rob - the main character - to go back into the middle of the chaos to try and save his one true love was ridiculous, stupid and against all comm sense. However, this is a movie, and some degree of artistic licence has to be granted. Apart from this stupid decision though, I think that the characters behave in a very realistic way. In such a terrifying, chaotic nightmare as the situation in Cloverfield, I dont think too many people would be sitting around considering their options. They would definitely be trying to get the heck out of the city ASAP, and would do as they were told by the police/military/whoever was running the show.

The handheld camera technique is done impressively. Luckily, I was not one of the people who got seasick while watching the movie. Again, some reviewers have criticised the film for being unrealistic in that Hud - the cameraman goes to outrageous lengths to film in all situations. I disagree. There are plenty of situations where we only get to see what is going on because he puts the camera down. What really works well is that the handheld perspective really makes you feel like you are there. When our protagonists are running through a leaning building, it really feels like they are on an uneven surface. When they are in a helicopter plummeting to earth, it really feels like you are in the chopper alongside them. I literally found myself looking for a way out of the chopper. In this regard, Cloverfield is really like one of those 'virtual reality' rides they have at theme parks.

Some monster/disaster movies leave you feeling unsatisfied, if you dont get a real good look at the monster. That is not the case in Cloverfield. You get many up close and personal shots of the great beast, and the special effects are first class. I think it is a real art to have such great special effects while using the handheld camera technique

Where Cloverfield is not satisfying is that it just leaves you wanting more. You want to know what happened with the monster. What happened with the characters? Who got out? Based on the fact that we are watching footage that has been found by the Department of Defense, you can assume at least that they were able to get back into the city and do some sort of clean up. But did they kill the monster? Who knows. There has been already talk that there may be a Cloverfield 2, and that this could take the form of being an alternate view taken and recorded by someone else in the city at the same time. I am not sure what I think about this at this point. I think it has potential, but I would hope that it is done as well as this movie.

One cool thing though is that if you are interested, there is an absolutely massive online community around Cloverfield. I had no idea about this 'viral marketing' that had been underway. But it seems that producer JJ Abrams crafted a very detailed, complex alternate reality to promote the movie. Each of the main characters had myspace pages, and there are fictional companies with websites that dont seem to relate directly to the movie. Many people have spent many hours analysing all these viral marketing things, and it seems some were disappointed that the movie was not more relevant to the alternate reality stuff. Im not too keen on getting sucked into that stuff too much, but it is interesting to read about.

The Good

Everything!

The Bad

Nothing

Score

Ten out of Ten. Will watch again and again and again.