What is Cloverfield? Ever since the "viral" trailer for the "unnamed" movie in front of Transformers, there has been a lot of mystery behind the title. What is destroying everything? Is this serious? What's going on? Is it a cthulhu movie? Is it a giant polar bear? Is it any good?






Trailer



Plot: All filmed on handicap, a group of 20 somethings have a party and then an "earthquake" is felt along with an explosion. What could it be? Loud roars ring out, It is time to flee.

WARNING: Don't read the Wikipedia plot on this movie. I usually copy and paste it but it turns out that the ENTIRE movie is written in the plot. Only read it if you want the movie spoiled.



My Review: The movie is all about the unknown. From its sudden appearance that created such a craze over what the movie is to what is going on and the creature itself, it is secret and a mystery. JJ Abrams is not a stranger of this "deception" with his television show Lost giving question after question with not always an answer in sight. He follows the same method for this movie, show the people something to wet their appetite so they dive in deep...into their pockets to shell out cash for the movie.

Does all this secrecy pay off? Well that is for the box office to decide. I'm going to try to not give much away about the movie. Don't want to eliminate some of his surprise. But don't worry, it has more going for it than just that.

What does the public know? It's a monster movie. Sure it is filmed in style of The Blair Witch Project, but it's still a monster movie at heart. And It is done better than other recent monster movies. There is a reason for this. The monster is not seen in the first 5 minutes. So many monster films and horror films today are released and show off the creature too quickly. Just because you have the ability to make this monstrous creation seen, doesn't mean you need to show it off all the time. This ruins the suspence and mystery of "what's out there." What is more scary/terrifying, the known or the unknown?

This isn't to say the whole movie is smoke and mirrors. The creature is shown pretty early on but unlike other movies, it isn't completely there. You see it behind a building, you see it inbetween buildings, you see it through shaky cam. But it is done in a way that the creature is in decipherable. During the movie, I made it out in my mind three different ways. With angles and differnt structures in the way, it looks a new way almost everytime. It wasn't until the end where you actually saw the creature for what it was. All its glory.

But what does he look like? You remember all those pictures online of the whale creature, the horn on the head, etc? They are all WRONG. After seeing the creature, it almost made me think that either fans just drew stuff or Abrams hired people to make false art to throw people off. Although now that the movie has been into previewings, some more accurate pictures can be found. If you try hard enough.

Spoilers on the Monster/Movie - DON'T enlarge text unless you want to be spoiled!

The creature is a four-legged thing with a tale. Its front two legs come out and are long and slender much like a Harlequin Beetle Acrocinus Longimanus (google it). It also appears to have two tiny baby arms on its chest akin to the Queen Alien from Aliens.Also notable is on top of its head. There are these sacs like air sacs that inflate and deflate. I can't give too much away, now can I?
It does drop creatures, no telling if they are just offspring or something else but they look like more like a spider of sorts and the face reminds me of a Chimera from Resistance: Fall of Man. They do bite and the bitten get infected. No telling if it lays an egg or just contaminates the blood so it explodes?
Some people might have problems with this movie cause it doesn't give the answers they were looking for. Creatures origins, what it is, and even if it dies is NOT explained. My experience with it, it doesn't need to be with the direction they were going with the film. The whole film is you watching the tape.
END Talk -At the end of the credits there is nothing but a SMALL sound clip that may or may not say "Help me." Which might be saying that Rob and Beth survived the naplam.


I can see why some critics didn't like the movie. Just keep in mind how this movie starts out. The entire movie is from the persepective of the camera. What I mean is, this movie is like taking a tape of your vacation and plugging it up to a movie theater screen and pressing play. You only see what is recorded on that camera. It could upset some, but it is a nice angle from the camera man's position. The unique direction help makes it. The film accomplishes the feeling that it is an amateur camera man filming this catastrophe nicely.

Speaking of the camera man, or as I dub him the Narrator, he helped make the movie for me. The HUD, that's his name, holds the camera and talks a lot. He is the comedic relief. Definitely good casting and writing on this character.

What more is left to say about this movie? It is a realistic story. Besides the whole "monster" thing, there was only one part that seemed hollywood and it wasn't a major thing, nor something that comes close to marring the film. And yes it is PG-13, but there is a reason for it. The violence was done in a classy way that it was pleasing. It does seem like this movie is based on the principle, less is more.

Just DON'T make a sequel JJ Abrams, don't.



My Conclusion: I will be the first to admit that I am not a fan of JJ Abrams. I even had low hopes for this movie and was expecting it to fail. So I have to bite the bullet and tell you it is good. If you are anyone you know is iffy or undecided about the film, GO SEE IT.

It was fun, there was some excitement, and even at a truly predictable part, I was still managed to be shocked by what I knew was coming. It was the sound...it has it!



My Rating: 8.5 - Not the best movie ever, but one of the best monster movies in awhile. Go see it.