This is a quick, couple-paragraph review of ‘Cloverfield’. I just saw the film today, so I haven’t had much time to digest it, but here is my immediate reaction…
Umm, right after the jump. Because of the spoilers.
OK, so I like when movies use the point-of-view camera angles. I loved it in ‘War of the Worlds’, it was enjoyable in both of the ‘28 — Later’ movies and it sure as hell works in games. But you don’t use it for the whole movie! At least, you shouldn’t! Before the movie started, Hunter* told us that during the previous showings some people got sick. I’ve read a number of reviews by critics who’ve lost their lunch thanks to the movie. I didn’t get sick nor did I puke. I just got tired and bored by the technique. Give me a wide-shot any day! I think I would actually pay money to see something like ‘Cloverfield, V2′, a movie with the same exact story but standard camera angles. Someone should get on the ball and make that movie, pronto.
*Hunter is that ass who stops by the theater before the previews and says the usual welcome-enjoy-the-movie-please-spend-money-on-overpriced-popcorn.
So, aside from the camera angles, the movie was pretty good. Though I wish they showed more of the monster and actually went into an explanation of what the hell it is. Apparently there was a quite ingenious viral marketing campaign that provided some of the back story for the movie. Call me lazy, but I don’t usually expect to do “homework” before watching a movie: if there is information that will help with the story, put it in the movie, not on some website that you assume I visited before watching the film.
The characters were pretty bland and two-dimensional, so we didn’t really care when Rob’s brother (what was his name, Jason or something?) died. And Marlena’s death was so sudden and amidst so much mayhem (mostly it was that damn camera shaking) that I wasn’t sure for a little while if she did in fact die.
The ending pretty much sucked. OK, you’re in a helicopter, evacuating people from the city, which is the most logical route to take, one which takes you far away from the monster, or one that flies alongside the monster? And how (a) did the monster survive a bombing run and (b) reach up high enough to actually bring the helicopter down? Then the film-makers decided that hey, not enough people died throughout the movie, let’s kill the main characters and really shaft the moviegoers with a downer ending that does not even bother to answer that most basic question we have been asking ourselves for the past hour, “What the hell is going on?”.
For now, I rate this as a good but unsatisfying movie. Something like a B-. Here’s hoping they make a sequel/prequel with normal camera-work.
