Dir: Matt Reeves
For me to review Cloverfield I must sadly include spoilers, so here is my warning up front.
(Spoiler Alert)
With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high tension wires down, Godzilla!
Helpless people on subway trains
Scream BUG-EYED as he looks in on them, Godzilla!
He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town, Godzilla
Oh no, they say he's got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Lyrics: D. Roeser, Sung by Blue Oyster Cult
Now, with the spoilers out of the way, on with the synopsis.
Cloverfield begins at a going away party, carries on through various Manhattan locales, and ends up under a bridge. Several people begin the movie alive, but ultimately none of them do. And along the journey of these hapless victims of America's own 30 story city-stomping monster, various thrilling events transpire that are meant to startle us, make us sad, have us cheering for the heroes, and hopefully gape in awe at the magnitude of destruction. The film-makers do a pretty decent job of it. The actors are all unknowns who may very well stay that way. The monster is not quite a cool as Godzilla. Since we have seen this before it is all mostly ok. Like I said, the film-makers do a pretty decent job.
It was marketed in hushed tones; secrecy being of the utmost importance. I had a pretty good idea of what the movie was about, but it has been a couple years since it was released, and I hear things. I remember thinking “Oh, that's clever: don't give away what the movie is about, so it is a surprise.” As I watched the various behind the scenes featurettes following my viewing, I began to realize that this movie was designed, from the onset, to be a gimmick; a glorious, epic gimmick. J.J. Abrams is unabashed when he talks about how he came about the original concept, believing it was high-time America had it's own timeless cult idol akin to Godzilla. I can see how the first-person camera shooting, designed to look like the viewer is watching the recovered footage of a lost camcorder, is just another gimmick. The choices to make the head of the Statue of Liberty crash down a crowded street, how the monster is never seen in its full glory but instead barely caught on tape as it turns down another corner several blocks away, how each victim is killed in a uniquely horrendous fashion; all this is gimmick piled on top of gimmick. Even the marketing campaign, cleverly hiding the monster, never hinting at what the movie is really about, is just another in a long string of gimmicks. Now, I believe in setting the hook to draw in movie-goers, but this is all hook, nothing but hook.
I am not even sure how to review this anymore, because I can nit-pick the various little flaws and inconsistencies, or I can rail against the lack of original thought, or I can point fingers at nifty special effects wizardry and bad acting and trite script and clever art... but that doesn't feel right because the movie wasn't about portraying any of that. It was, if I may be so bold, a big-budget indie-film whose unique statement is “I'll get you to watch this movie, by God!” And in that regard, I guess I would have to give it hesitant thumbs-up. The makers did a wonderful job of packing in as many gimmicks as possible in the making of this movies. What else can I say, but “Well done!” So many other film-makers take the high-road and refuse to incorporate more than just a select few gimmicks, usually designed to somehow enhance the telling of the story or showcasing the special effects. Cloverfield's creators didn't have that creative valve, they included whatever they could think of. I am just sad, for them, that the current trend of 3D has arrived too late, though I am not ruling out a “Special Producer's 3D Edition (finally rendered the way the producer originally intended to sell it)” in the possible future.
Cloverfield was fun, but I like Godzilla movies. We have an understanding; I don't expect much from them, and they don't try to deliver. Instead they focus on what works for this unique genre “Glorious Chaos”. Cloverfield succeeds in delivering this for us, and does so on an impressive variety of gimmicky fronts. So, if you are 12 years old, love seeing things destroyed by monsters, and are impressed by the dime-store tricks of a marketing department with Attention Deficit Disorder and more room to run than a 30-story lizard in down-town Tokyo, then I believe this movie will please you.
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