Cloverfield, a review by Jon
Cloverfield
5 out of 5This is supposedly a tape found in what was "formerly Central Park" and details the attempts of a small group of people to rescue their friend after a mysterious and sustained attack on New York by a mysterious something. Or you could just say Monster Movie. Like every other monster movie you can think of. So it could be predictable and boring, but director Matt Reeves has done something incredible for modern cinematic entertainment. He's lifted the bar, just a little. This should be considered a milestone.
It starts off in a party and after ten minutes, I was fed-up of the, yes, predictable and boring soap opera unfolding. But this has to be by design to lull the viewer into a false sense of security because then we get the noise and the panic. From then, much of the film is a pure assault on the senses and one of the most original movies to come from Hollywood for a few years. Every now and again it drifts back to the soap opera, and the basic conceit of the camcorder stretches credibility frequently (conveniently films everything required; one heck of a battery, etc), but it always manages to snap back and make you jump and/or squirm (Statue of Liberty! Night vision!).
Hidden in the chaos is a brilliant piece of direction and editing that harks back to old fashioned movie making. CGI in recent years has become lazy, or perhaps because it's expensive, they insist on showing everything. But Matt Reeves positively refuses to show us much more than a tantalising glimpse here or there, bravely making his creature almost shy. This is the sort of audience manipulation that directors like Hitchcock and Spielberg built careers on. Yes, I think it's good enough to stand that comparison. That said the core story is far to simple and old to withstand such a comparison for long. Maybe there's a subtext if you want to find it, but narrative structure is an impossible dream! A lack of backstory obviously builds tension, but also makes for a simpler script.
Visually though, this film is triumphant and stands as testament to the longevity of cinema as viable entertainment in the face of video games. Phew. A few bits actually reminded me of Half-Life
user POV especially while running under legs of giant "thing" trying to crush you; Antlions; a building leaning on another is a typical puzzle level design
, but video games have a long way to go to look this good. With 3D just around the corner and directors with a vision like this to use it, Hollywood is in good hands.
But then the same could have once been said about The Matrix which also benefited from new ideas with no backstory. So please, no sequel. Unless it's bloody good.
(From Cloverfield on June 13th, 2008)
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October 15, 2024, 05:52:30 PM