Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman
Director: Matt Reeves
Released: January 18, 2008
IMDB Synopsis: Revolves around a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people.
When Rob Hawkins (Stahl-David) shows up to his going-away party on a summer Manhattan night, the most stressful event he’s ready to deal with is how to tackle seeing his ex-girlfriend Beth McIntyre (Yustman) and her new guy. The way he handles the action to come is…well, a little disappointing. Then again, how many of us are really prepared to tangle with an extra-terrestrial beast the size of Godzilla (minus the personality) that can turn a city street into a post-Apocalyptic battle zone with one angry swipe?
Cloverfield follows a pretty straightforward plotline that’s easy for the moviegoers that it’s geared toward to follow, i.e. fourteen year olds. We even give this movie points for presenting a mildly unexpected ending. Nice work. We don’t think this is worthy of a “spoiler alert,” but we’ll mention that Cloverfield’s monster leaves an impressive number of casualties, which is normally cause for celebration. We’re not sure if it’s intentional or not, but the majority of the characters are annoying enough that the audience cheered when the life was snuffed out of them. Perhaps Cloverfield’s monster is some sort of eugenic, quasi-Darwinian force let loose on Manhattan to exterminate the lame and obnoxious, in which case we politely implore it to stomp its way on over to Los Angeles.
The acting was fair; even though the cast was made up mostly of noobs, considering this is a genre where acting is normally abysmal, there were some surprisingly comedic moments. Interestingly, the degree to which a character is annoying seems to correlate directly with how quickly they'll be killed. Cheers to that.
It’s Cloverfield’s cinematography that garnered the most publicity. The film was shot to give the impression of footage from a hand-held camera, a la The Blair Witch Project. Rumors circulated that the subsequent jostling and bouncing led some to nausea, though none of us encountered that difficulty. If we felt like vomiting, it was the cheesy dialogue that was the likely culprit.
All in all, while this movie won’t change your life, break down any barriers, or set a new standard for special effects, we will hold steadfastly to our claim that Cloverfield delivers all that it promises, and all that you can expect. If you enjoy anarchistic fright films, then go ahead and check it out. We'll admit we were entertained. If that’s not your thing, then you probably shouldn’t bother.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Director: Matt Reeves
Released: January 18, 2008
IMDB Synopsis: Revolves around a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people.
When Rob Hawkins (Stahl-David) shows up to his going-away party on a summer Manhattan night, the most stressful event he’s ready to deal with is how to tackle seeing his ex-girlfriend Beth McIntyre (Yustman) and her new guy. The way he handles the action to come is…well, a little disappointing. Then again, how many of us are really prepared to tangle with an extra-terrestrial beast the size of Godzilla (minus the personality) that can turn a city street into a post-Apocalyptic battle zone with one angry swipe?
Cloverfield follows a pretty straightforward plotline that’s easy for the moviegoers that it’s geared toward to follow, i.e. fourteen year olds. We even give this movie points for presenting a mildly unexpected ending. Nice work. We don’t think this is worthy of a “spoiler alert,” but we’ll mention that Cloverfield’s monster leaves an impressive number of casualties, which is normally cause for celebration. We’re not sure if it’s intentional or not, but the majority of the characters are annoying enough that the audience cheered when the life was snuffed out of them. Perhaps Cloverfield’s monster is some sort of eugenic, quasi-Darwinian force let loose on Manhattan to exterminate the lame and obnoxious, in which case we politely implore it to stomp its way on over to Los Angeles.
The acting was fair; even though the cast was made up mostly of noobs, considering this is a genre where acting is normally abysmal, there were some surprisingly comedic moments. Interestingly, the degree to which a character is annoying seems to correlate directly with how quickly they'll be killed. Cheers to that.
It’s Cloverfield’s cinematography that garnered the most publicity. The film was shot to give the impression of footage from a hand-held camera, a la The Blair Witch Project. Rumors circulated that the subsequent jostling and bouncing led some to nausea, though none of us encountered that difficulty. If we felt like vomiting, it was the cheesy dialogue that was the likely culprit.
All in all, while this movie won’t change your life, break down any barriers, or set a new standard for special effects, we will hold steadfastly to our claim that Cloverfield delivers all that it promises, and all that you can expect. If you enjoy anarchistic fright films, then go ahead and check it out. We'll admit we were entertained. If that’s not your thing, then you probably shouldn’t bother.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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