Cloverfield Review

The hype surrounding Cloverfield has been taking over the internet for so long that I almost felt that I had already seen this film! What with the various myspace pages and the cleverly edited trailers revealing only just enough info to get you well and truly hooked it has definitely had one of the most well thought out marketing campaigns I have seen in a very long time. So, when I finally did get round to watching Cloverfield I didn’t quite know what to expect but couldn’t help but be a little excited.

The movie begins with some random chat between various different characters, all of which is filmed on a handheld camera. We soon begin to realise that this is going to be the format for the whole movie. It takes a while to get used to the camera angles and the dizzy feeling it often gives you when someone is running around or making quick movements but that doesn’t last long once the real action starts. Set in New York Its Rob’s going away party and all his friends and family have turned up to wish him farewell, but as they begin to get into the swing of things the ground shudders and strange noises come from the city outside. As everyone rushes outside to see what has happened we see the most used ‘trailer’ scene which features the head from the statue of liberty come flying out of the sky and through the streets. It is then that we catch our first quick glimpse of the ‘monster’ but it’s hard to make it out clearly at this stage.

The rest of the movie is based around Rob and his friends trying to get back to rescue Beth who is trapped in her apartment, as they travel through the underground tracks and backstreets they soon begin to realise that the large monster rapidly destroying the city is not the only thing they have to worry about, as it moves along it drops smaller bug like creatures onto the ground which resemble spiders with very large jaws! Once bitten by one of them you soon die, bleeding uncontrollably from every orifice as one of the unfortunate members of Rob’s little gang soon find out!

They eventually make it to Beth’s apartment only to find her trapped beneath a pile of rubble after her building has partially collapsed. They eventually free her and begin to make their way out of the apartment and back into the city to find the army soldiers who had earlier advised them to meet back at 6:00 to catch a helicopter ride to safety! At this point we get some really good shots of the monster itself, but none better than in the final scenes of the movie in which Rob and Beth find themselves the only survivors of the group left alone and trapped amidst the fight between the army and the big bad! As the movie comes to an end we are left with some final shots of Beth and Rob huddled together under a small bridge for safety before a huge explosion occurs and the camera times out leaving us none the wiser as to who won the fight, and what exactly the monster was!

Whilst I definitely enjoyed this movie and found it refreshingly different from most things in the cinema right now it’s a shame there weren’t just a few more answers to questions that run through your head after the movie ends. I know that’s probably the whole point, to put you in the same place as Rob and the rest of New York at the time, not knowing what this thing was or why it had invaded their city etc but curiosity gets the better of me and I really want more answers! You could tell that J J Abrahms was involved in this movie in some way, even without knowing he was the producer. The whole film had a very ‘LOST’ feel to it with the frequent teasing shots of the monster and constant questions posed.

Ultimately, this film is definitely worth a watch for its originality and special effects alone, it’s not the sort of thing you will watch over and over again but I can’t deny it was most definitely worth the wait. I am however wondering if we will see a sequel pop up in a year or so… what do you think?

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