~Cast~Cloverfield (2008)
~Cast~
Michael Stahl-David.....................Rob Hawkins
T.J. Platt.....................................Hud Platt
Jessica Lucas...............................Lily Ford
Lizzy Caplan...............................Marlena Diamond
Mike Vogel..................................Jason Hawkins
Odette Yustman...........................Beth McIntyre
Directed by..................................Matt Reeves
My Rating:
Ever since the original untitled trailer debuted before TRANSFORMERS being dubbed the release dates title of 1-18-08, the topic of conversation has been "What in the world is the creature!?" No matter what you called the film whether it be Untitled J.J. Abrams Project, Slusho, Monstrous, Clover, Cheese, etc, fact was you were online surfing around looking for any spoiler out there that could shed light upon what the monster looked like, or was. Rumors of it being GODZILLA were thrown out the door, same as Cthulu (which I was hoping for) and the viral marketing campaign not seen since BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was launched and everyone was sucked into it, hook, line and sinker. You visited the websites to be the one who could figure out what SLUSHO meant, what it's ties were with TV shows HEROES and also, you paused the trailer and reversed it because you thought you saw the monster in the smoke and rubble of the buildings. Shit, you even found that fake concept art photo and told everyone you found the LEAKED PHOTO OF THE CLOVERFIELD MONSTER!!! Like it was ever going to be that easy, this film had more security on it than the president for crying out loud. Now it's finally here and the monster is FINALLY revealed to the world, it's already made 41 Million dollars so the cat is out of the bag but was it worth all the hype? The countless conversations you had debating what the monster was and the hours upon hours of investigating you did online all for an 84 minute monster movie. This reviewer says yes and no because for some this movie paid off in full for them and that's great. Others it's been deemed "The biggest disappointment of my life!" Which in itself is pretty sad if a crappy January movie can be so important to your life but hey, to each his own. For me though, CLOVERFIELD was exactly what I thought it would be...an interesting film with a cool concept that had some major problems. Let's face it...if it were an amazingly good movie...they wouldn't release it in what is deemed "STUDIO DUMP MONTH" by the industry. January is infamous for being the month that studios decide to dump the crap they have and not give a shit if it floats or not. I found this movie to be simply neh for many reasons that I will go into later on..
CLOVERFIELD is a film that takes an original monster with an original concept and adds an original directing style for this type of film but gives it the most clichéd, run of the mill plot lines imaginable. What the fuck Cloverfield; is this really the best you can come up with for a disaster film? Your big ground breaking concept to redefine the monster/disaster movie is dumbed down to some idiot trying to find a woman he loves who may or may not be dead!? Wow, and I thought Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem was clichéd.
The film starts off going Blair Witch on us by telling us that this tape was found and the following is documented footage from someone who was videotaping what went on. We are led to believe that this person has a magical battery that lasts forever as well as a 7 hour tape that has been somehow edited into the 84 minute film we are watching. The film starts off it's short stint throwing our main characters through video testimonials that are being taped for Rob Hawkins because he is leaving for his new job in Japan as a Vice President. We learn that he has a brother Jason who is pretty much married to Lily just not officially yet, we also learn that dim witted camera man Hud is best friends with Rob and also has a crush on a girl named Marlena. We also find out that Rob slept with a beautiful girl named Beth one night when they were hanging out after being best friends forever; now Rob can't handle it and she is mad that he didn't call. So right there is how in depth the characters get which is fine to an extent but later on...it hurts the film. During the party, the power goes out and explosions can be seen from the roof of the building. People run into the streets only to be confronted with more destruction including the statue of liberty's head which was an awesome set up for this film. It's here that the film went from being intriguing and interesting to downright stupid for we are forced to follow someone who is clearly thinking irrationally. Rob gets a phone call from Beth saying she is hurt and needs help so what does he do when he doesn't even know if she is still alive? He has to go and find her and of course, his idiotic friends tag along for the ride. With glimpses of the monster here and there and a couple of cool scenes with the biopeds that lived on this thing (not enough scenes with them in my opinion), we are stuck with a character story as opposed to a monster movie which I thought was good.
Picture Godzilla from the perspective of the civilians instead of the monster or the military, great concept right? Well unfortunately we are given horrid characters who are so clichéd and stupid that it dumbed down the experience of this film entirely. First of all, the love story between Hud and Marlena seemed almost forced but it kind of worked in my eyes. If Marlena hadn't been such a cold bitch I might have actually wanted Hud to get with her. Once Lily's other half kicks the bucket, she is pretty much chewing scenery so her character just exists in this film, that brings us to Rob. Our main character who was the most clichéd one of them all, why we spent SO much time on this guy is beyond me since he was the irrational asshole whose motives are only there to keep the plot line going and drive the main characters into more peril. He went after a woman who he slept with ONCE...it wasn't even an official relationship for crying out loud but hey...whatever helps you sleep at night buddy. Another problem I had with this film aside from the plot was the point of view this movie was being told from. Hud is a moron and it's told to us from the start, he's likable but he's an idiot. So we are told this story from a MORON's perspective and several times I felt that he should have been aiming the camera at other things aside from what he was. When they are crossing the roof and they see the monster, he purposely turns the camera away not because of something that is going on but simply to conceal what the monster looks like for another 5 minutes. The shaky cam never really bothered me as much as people said but if you couldn't handle the Blair Witch Project's camera, then stay the hell away from this film cause this is 10 times worse than that. I also never felt a sense of peril or terror from what was going on because while it seemed real, nothing really seemed scary to me. The mini monsters were allot scarier than the huge one, he was so fucking skinny that it looked like his bones were about to break! Also, am I the only one who noticed that the majority of the damage we see occur is done by the friggin military? Seriously, I think they caused more destruction than the monster did! Also, how much fucking damage can one video camera take? Not only did it get the shit kicked out of it and beaten up by attacks and stuff like that...but how many times did our dimwitted camera man take nose dives to the ground with the fucking camera?
To the monster itself, once it's finally revealed as to what it is, all the rumors of it being HUGE and bigger than Godzilla are absolute bullshit. Later on I discovered that this monster is only a baby and is growing which should have been told to us sooner. In fact, the monster seemed to shrink as the film went on and by the end, I couldn't believe that THIS was the fucking creature that was able to decapitate the Statue Of Liberty's head. No I'm not going to describe to you what it is nor will I post any pictures on here. All I will say is that it reminded me allot of that giant Orc thing that stabs Frodo in the first Lord Of The Rings film during that giant battle in the Dwarf tomb. The mini monsters were cool but they weren't ever FULLY shown the way they should have been which bothered me because those things were awesome. Is the monster what you saw already in those "leaked" photos? NO! If you actually thought that was real and that it wasn't purposely leaked out then you have issues. I will give it this much...the monster was original and interesting, but no, it could NOT whoop Godzilla nor King Kong's ass.
So to the good about this film, the movie does move along as a decent pace and the visuals are quite intriguing. I really dug the concept but wish they went with a better plot line for the characters to follow. More monster attacks would have been nice as well and while it's not till the finale where the monster is actually fully revealed; it made you look at every single frame that you could see to try and make out what was attacking them. I also really dug the "bite victim" scene and wish they had more of that occur. With the movie making 41 million dollars, probably setting some kind of January record...we can all assume there will be a sequel. Let's hope it sheds more light onto the monster itself.
Acting wise, this movie has some decent acting but nothing that really sold me on this being real; I knew they were all just acting. Maybe it was the dialogue or maybe it was the actors themselves, I don't know. Michael Stahl-David plays Rob Hawkins, the "I'm in love with her so I must find her" irrational moron who we are forced to follow. David does good aside from one scene where he tried to cry but it just didn't work, I had more of a problem with the character itself than with his acting. I didn't buy the fact he would put himself through THAT much peril for a girl he wasn't even sure was alive nor was he really even with. Why nobody else stopped him is beyond me. ANYWAY...T.J.Platt plays Hud, the camera man and best friend and I wish we spent more time on his character because I felt he was the one to route for. He wasn't the smartest one in the group but he sure as hell was the most entertaining as well as the most rational. I felt Platt did a great job and was probably the strongest link in this film. Jessica Lucas plays Lily and does a solid job but I felt her character really wasn't reacting the way she should be. Her character was almost pointless once the initial plot turn occurs and the fact she is around for so long bothered me because it was just one more person to spit bad dialogue out. Lizzy Caplan plays Marlena who I honestly couldn't stand at all in this film especially as Hud's love interest simply because she was such a cold hearted bitch throughout. ONLY reason I cared even slightly about her was because I cared for Hud so I wanted to see that character happy. Lizzy does good in this role but seriously, why was this character even here? Mike Vogel plays Jason Hawkins and probably the best character out of the bunch, I wish he was in it more because his personality was great and I felt Vogel gave it his all. Odette Yustman plays Beth, the woman that is worth dying for apparently. She does good but I really felt the whole plot was contrived and that they should have strengthened the bond between the two for it to be more realistic. Directing wise, it's hard to say if it's good since it purposely meant to look bad and look like it was handheld footage. The reveals were cool though so that worked I guess...I'll be interested to see what Matt Reeves has coming up next.
Gore wise, this movie is PG-13 so there is a lot of stuff not seen but it doesn't feel like it's edited for content. We get some bites, bloody scars, cleaned up wounds, a person exploding from behind a curtain and some other things. Nudity wise, the ladies win cause they get to see David shirtless.
I say, Cloverfield has been hyped up so much that no matter what I said in my review, you will STILL go and see this film just to find out for yourself what all the hub-bub is all about. I am finding that people are either loving this film and finding it to be the most intense experience of their lives (losers) or they are hating it so much that they go around bashing the hell out of it to random people (also losers) I am in the middle...I didn't love nor hate this film. I found it to be just like every other January film that peaked my interest. It had a lot of promise and good ideas but falls short of being anything memorable. Long after this film leaves theatres and hits DVD, the only thing that will forever remain in the memories of the viewers will be the insane marketing campaign behind the film. I hope you enjoyed surfing the net for those photos of random characters with writing on the back for 84 minutes of film.
Special Guest Reviewer:
George Newman
"If this monster thinks it can take on Godzilla it has another thing coming, hell I think that Mothra would own the shit of Cloverfield without even breaking a sweat."