Movie Review: Cloverfield

(note: this blog post is a couple of months old, it’s no longer winter in canada and i kinda stumbled on this so i figured I would post it.)

So i went opening night, left just as quickly as a I got there due to the swarming mass of 14-18 year olds trying to buy tickets, that is not how I wanted to see this movie.

Because of putting off watching the film I had a bit of time to read some reviews and even pick up some spoilers. Most of the reviews I read praised the film for it’s story telling and realism. I was stoked!

So, the Wednesday following the release up here in the cold confines of canada I ventured out with a good friend and fellow film buff. The conditions for watching the movie were perfect this time. 10pm on a weeknight in the suburb i live is the time to watch a movie at the theater.

Wah wah wah wah (cry me a river)
Now some of the reviews straight up panned the first person perspective and the shaky blair witch cam, I gotta tell you i loved it. I don’t know if this movie would have been the same ifit was shot in a traditional manner. Sure you would have seen more of the monster and more of the last 10 films you saw but then what would have been the difference between this movie and anything else that has been released in the last 6 months? I have been seriously discouraged over the last couple of years with many of the films that I have watched but Cloverfield renewed my faith that someone, somewhere is trying something different.

A couple of things that stood out in other reviews that I read that I just don’t get:

* The lack of a standard film soundtrack
o This didn’t bother me one bit, I was at several times during the movie almost convinced that I was watching an episode of lost, the atmospheric sounds and ambient noise enhanced a lot of the terror the film was trying to evoke and added to the suspense.
* There’s now way they could have made it as far as they did through the tunnels in the timeframe of the movie.
o Yeah ok, so they walked like 100 city blocks in 5 minutes AND fought those nasty bug thingies, big deal. It’s a movie and there is a 50 story monster that sheds parasites which bite humans and either make there stomachs explode or plant a baby bug in them ala alien. Who cares, it’s a movie!
* The camera made me and everyone else sick
o I was in a theater with maybe 20 people and not one person made a peep about the camera action, deal with it.

Sooooooooo,
Yeah I was scared for the most part of this movie. Like very scared. I felt like I was with those people it felt as though I was running through new york not knowing what was going on and if I was going to live and exactly what the fuck is that gigantic monster doing in my mother fucking city ??? I believed, I bought into the hype and was genuinely excited to see this movie. This just goes to show that a movie can have hype and eventually live up to that hype.

As I mentioned previously, there were times when I was distinctly aware of who was involved in making this movie. JJ Abrams totally nailed it with Lost… I fucking adore that show like no other show that has now or ever been on tv. If this is what his style is, how he tells his stories and how he makes his living then I am 100% fan. I’m looking forward to the new season of lost starting at the end of January and I am eagerly awaiting the new star trek movie to come out.

So far, this is the best movie I have seen in 2008.