Caught up on Cloverfield at last. More than a movie it’s an experiment in movie making that nobody else seems to have thought of before. Not that it’s got anything new, but the elements of filmmaking have been borrowed from other sources and combined to make a home movie or a road movie with a Handycam or a mobile phone, but instead the movie takes place in NYC and involves the Statue of Liberty getting it’s head blown off and half of Manhattan destroyed by a monster. Coming to the story it’s about a young man called Rob who is going to Japan being promoted as the VP of his company and there is a surprise going away party thrown by his brother and his friends. It is during this party that the monster shows up in NYC and predictably all hell breaks loose. It’s the action however that differs in this movie with no long range or close-up shots of the monster or the actual destruction taking place. In fact all we get to see is shots from the Handycam with the incessant chatter of Rob and his friends. The scene where the head of the Statue of Liberty gets thrown off is pretty awesome.
The movie since its shot on a Handycam looks pretty disjointed and jerky and might not be everyone’s cup of tea. In fact I did read about people throwing up and having vertigo while watching this movie, but no such complaints from me. I had a blast in fact. Coming to the story itself, the movie consists of Rob and his friends searching for Rob’s on and off girlfriend and rescuing her and at the same time avoiding the monster and its kids who manage to kill Rob’s brother one of the friends accompanying Rob on his search for his girlfriend. There are no real close-up shots of the monster and all one can say after watching the movie is that the monster is big, ugly and destructive, but I did wish for a close-up shot of the monster causing all the destruction. Cloverfield is definitely an experience in movie making and also movie watching that all should experience and its better left to the viewer to decide how they liked the experience. I for one had a blast, but cannot say the same for my wife.
