I want to give some quick impressions on the movie Cloverfield
I caught Cloverfield for the first time on DVD last week. I was genuinely, appreciably, surprised at what I found. Initially walking into the film I knew that they were good things said about it, however,I tried to intentionally keep myself in the dark on a lot of the feedback and criticism that the movie received in order to guarantee that my impressions of the film will be fresh and untainted. Again, I really enjoyed Cloverfield. I really didn’t expect much going into the film except that it was going to be a modern take on the Godzilla story. I kind of expected that there would be a monster running through the city, and I had heard that a lot of the film (all of the film) is actually shot on cell phone cameras. That’s about it.
I was actually impressed with the use of the camera as a tool to communicate personal feelings from the actors to the audience. I really thought that this was an interesting mechanic to use as the audience is presumed to being accustomed to modern cell phone video,documentary-stylish, video made popular by society today. I have to say that I am really impressed with their use of the camera’s, shaky or not, and the mechanics of actually making a camera a character in the story. As ‘the camera’ you are following along with the group of characters trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic New York City. A monster has been found to be rampaging and attacking the city and you follow along as the group interacts with each other in their desperate attempts at survival.
Now the motivation for trying to transverse their way through the courts for near city streets is a little bit out there. I thought that the main character’s desire to save a girl he’d been avoiding for over 2weeks and creating a damsel in distress plot in this film, a little bit overused mechanic, may not have been needed for this particular story.This film had a lot of good things going for it in the story and characters and I just don’t’ feel that the love mechanic was necessary and could actually be found as a detriment to the audience with regard to ‘believability’. What I mean by that is that the characters seem organic like regular people develop documenting their party using avideo camera… There was a party, there was some fun, and then everything goes to hell.
One thing I also want to touch on, and I am constantly impressed by, is how Hollywood consistently improves their ability to destroy my home city.Sure this is a sensitive topic, keeping in mind the events of 9/11, but this is something that I’ve enjoyed seeing since watching “The Day After Tomorrow” and am continuously impressed by in recent films. The special effects of the film are top-notch. Big monster, burning buildings, debris and smoke everywhere…everything was just perfect as far as what you would like to see from a film delivering a giant monster rampaging through the streets of the city.
All said, I thought the movie was actually pretty decent and comes highly recommended as a DVD rental for those who have never seen the film.Enjoyment seems to dwindle when re-watching, but that’s due to the fact that most of the enjoyment of the film comes in suspense and surprises and tons of “what happens next?” moments. I’d watch it again tho and would imagine that there’s still plenty of enjoyment to be had on subsequent viewings.
