I went to see Cloverfield, despite my initial skepticism. After seeing a preview, I was not sure I could make it through a feature-length film shot in this manner without coming away with little more than motion sickness. I also had a feeling that a movie that depended so heavily on the hype and mystery surrounding the plot was kind of a cop-out.
It wasn't the best movie ever, but there were some really interesting things going on. The effects were great, it was pretty terrifying, and the camera-wielding Hud was hysterical. I felt like the movie should have ended before it did though. It drew out just a little too long. And I know that a monster movie isn't ever supposed to be realistic, but there were a few escapes from death that were just too unrealistic even for this type of a movie... (e.g. Beth is still alive and able to run around without bleeding to death after having been impaled by a metal rod... or that the 3 remaining main characters survive a horrific helicopter crash only to be further terrorized by the monster.)
What other friends that I went with hated the most about it, however, was what I liked: The fact that there isn't any resolution. The film doesn't even have opening credits, rather it opens with a screen with US Military codename "Cloverfield." It tells us that this is evidence discovered at a region formerly known as Central Park. This was an interesting way to begin and really supports the illusion of realism. Going into the home video feel from typical film credits would not have felt the same. I loved this choice. I thought it was brilliant.
The plot was less than stellar, but as I was watching, there was an interesting 9/11 subtext at the beginning. Off camera you can hear people saying "do you think it's another attack?" and when there is an explosion in the distance, you get more of the same sentiment. I thought this highlighted a vague fear in our country that has come about since 9/11. Also scenes in the street at times echoed some of the handcam footage that we saw on the news that day of clouds of dust and rubble rushing down between buildings as people were lost in the cloud. The idea of the first-hand account as it's happening via this video camera is reminiscent of this footage as well. As people fled Manhattan, they attempted to go across the Brooklyn Bridge. The movie showed this mass crossing the bridge, and I, once again, could not help but think of 9/11. Someone I know who worked at World Trade fled Manhattan by the same route that day. As the film continues, it becomes evident that there is an actual monster attacking the city. We never know where the monster came from and we never know an ending. We don't know if the monster died and the military eventually prevailed or if it and it's crazy little insect-like offspring are still ravaging the country. That very mystery also adds to the 9/11 subtext-- We do not know the outcomes, we do not know what happened to our enemy. I think this is what made this movie a success: the pervasive and elusive fear that we live with.
I only wish that someone had asked my opinion in the editing process! haha. There were just moments that became so thin, the movie would have been far better with their omission. For example, I feel that a much more effective ending would have been for the movie to have ended after the helicopter crash with the camera just directed at the ripped seat of the chopper. The idea of the 3 main characters making it out of the helicopter not only ALIVE but able to run from the monster is absolutely ridiculous. And then for the monster to somehow have "snuck up" on Hud.... yeah... the enormous monster surprises and kills Hud as he is picking up the camera. Wow. It could be just me, but I felt it should have ended at the crash. The final scene with Beth and Rob under the bridge was weird for me... But I understood why the filmmakers did it. Interspersed throughout the movie are moments of what Hud is filming over, Rob and Beth's romantic tryst that forms the whole basis for why he is so determined to go and find her. The last scene is the end of that tape when they are summing up their day together saying "Great day" and smiling into the camera. Ooh, feel the irony. It was effective. I just wish they had taken a slightly different path to get there.
The scariest moment: Malena. If you've seen it, I need say no more.
Having a pretty intense hatred for spiders, camel crickets, roaches, etc, the little (excuse me, enormous) insect-like things were TERRIFYING. I have not been able to walk down my hallway in the dark since seeing this movie. Too like a subway tunnel. haha. Malena is totally hardcore and beats the crap out of one of them, saving Hud. But in the madness, she is bitten. She begins to feel sick and gets really pale. When they come to a military medical station, she suddenly says "I don't feel good." and when Hud brings the camera onto her, she is bleeding from the nose and eye, a la ebola. A nurse screams "We've got a bite!" and they drag her off screaming into a quarantine, where we only see her silhouette through opaque plastic curtains. Then a splatter. Yuck.
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