Ok so I was quite looking forward to this movie, as I’m a bit of a sci-fi geek and a fan of LOST. My excitement was multiplied when I heard they were showing the Star Trek trailer prior to the film. Lucky they did, because it was the highlight of the night for me, even though it only ran for a minute and didn’t show anything really.
So what was wrong with Cloverfield? – where to begin. What could have been a tense edgy movie turned out to be just another B grade monster flick. It was like JJ Abrams had watched Godzilla and the Blair Witch Project and decided to combine them both in a plotless movie. One can only imagine how he sold the movie to the people who gave it the green light for production. Presumably he walked in and said “I want to make a movie about a monster wreaking havoc in Manhattan” and then after that everyone must have forgotten to ask him “and then what?”. That is the entire premise of the movie – monster of unknown origin (which is never revealed in the movie) tears the city to shreds and we have the joy of watching it through one persons shaky video camera footage.
Video camera footage in movies can sometimes work really well, but when it’s through the entire film it needs to be done with a great deal of care otherwise it becomes ‘too much’. This was the case for Cloverfield – it was difficult to keep track of the action. I’d really like to say something good about Cloverfield and I guess I could say that it was fairly well polished when it came to the special effects, but even the shred of moral fibre running through it was lost in the ending.
That is all there is to it really, there’s not much else to say. Just wanted to let Snarkarati members who are thinking of going to see the movie that there’s little plot, slightly wooden acting from some of the cast given the situation and an ending that might leave you feeling cheated.
Written by Angela
Oh man, I was soooo looking forward to this film, and now I’m not sure whether to even go and see it.
It’s definitely had mixed reviews, so maybe I should just make my own mind up after it comes out here in the UK.
Hmmm. Please correct me if I’m wrong… BUT theese reviews immedately made me thing of one movie I recently saw – Gwoemul, a South Korean film about the monster which emerges from Seoul’s Han River and focuses its attention on attacking people.
The description of the Cleverfield monster almost entirely matches the monster from that movie.
By the way, Gwoemul (The Host) is just like one fun MTV video, and nothing more…
it can’t be good…it just can’t be!
It’s not terrible but the handheld camera will annoy a lot of people, as will the thin story and unresolved ending.
Its a monster/found film movie…
(in other words, don’t go in expecting anything other than intense pov shots, that aren’t nearly as shaky as people are complaining, right in the middle of a monster attacking a city with some jokes thrown in for relief.)
… and it was amazing and the best of either genre I have seen in some time. Seriously people, enjoy a film for what it is… I really see no way the concept of this film could have been executed better than it was here.
Yeah, I’ve been hearing that “The Host” and “Cloverfield” are supposedly similar .. but I guess I’ll have to see it to decide.
I’ve been looking up reviews and info for this film, and it seems to be getting pretty solid ratings. And it’s really interesting that they’re promoting the film with the fallen Statue of Liberty..it definitely sets an undertone of the America being attacked..Maxim actually did a little bit on it.
http://www.maxim.com/Entertainment/MoviesThatMangletheStatueofLiberty/slideshow/673.aspx?src=dx18:mtd