Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
Matt Reeves
Cast :
Lizzy Caplan ………. Marlena Diamond
Jessica Lucas ………. Lily Ford
T.J. Miller ………. Hud Platt
Michael Stahl-David ………. Rob Hawkins
Mike Vogel ………. Jason Hawkins
Odette Yustman ………. Beth McIntyre
Anytime one looks at man’s reaction to disaster, man made or natural, cinematically the choice has always been to look at those in charge of dealing with the crisis. Monster movies and disaster movies in particular have always focused on Presidents and other leadership-types; how one deals with a crisis says a lot about one’s ability to be a leader. But the one thing rarely explored is how the common person in the middle of it all. Hence, Cloverfield.
The brainchild of J.J Abrams of Lost fame, Cloverfield follows a group of twenty-somethings as they deal with a monster ravaging Manhattan. Destroying the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge, the film follows a group of five people trying to survive. Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is taking a job in Japan and its his last night in the states when disaster strikes. He’s joined by his brother Jason (Mike Vogel), his girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas), cameraman Hud (T.J. Miller) and Hud’s love from afar Marlena (Lizzy Caplan). During Rob’s going away party the monster strikes, leaving the group in the streets as the head of the Statue of Liberty goes on by. As panic sets in and they try to escape, they attempt a dangerous venture to save Rob’s girlfriend (Odette Yustman). At a shade under 90 minutes, it’s more of an experience than a cinematic adventure.
And if there’s one thing Matt Reeves gets right is in capturing the human experience during an event like this. Fear, paranoia and the gamut of emotions during the experience is what he gets right. Once the film gets going, from a party atmosphere to absolute fear, he absolutely masters the art of maintaining his foot on the pedal of atmosphere. For the film’s last hour he keeps the mood engaging and terrifying.
The thing that makes the film effective is its use of handheld cameras. While it shakes enough to cause one motion sickness, it absolutely conveys the situation and reflects our world. To have a steady cam or large crane shots would take away from the atmosphere, to be honest. The film reflects our society and how it would handle something like a monster attacking; people taking pictures with cell phones, videotaping everything, looting, etc. We see everything and have no more information than the people we follow; it allows for a much cleaner experience because we don’t know what’s going to happen.
Credit Reeves as well for developing his monster well. Using the Jaws type of monster development, keeping it in the shadows and only for glimpses at a time only adds to the terror. For large portions of the movie we have no idea what’s happening and why it’s happening. It would spoil the experience to have more information and ruin a bit of the atmosphere as well. It’s a great way to tip the genre on its head and reinvent it in a way.
The one thing the film doesn’t do well, and with a short running time really can’t, is establish its cast of characters effectively. Several of them die along the way, as befits the genre, but there’s not a strong attachment to any of them. They are there to guide us through the story and provide a context to the proceedings but when major events happen we don’t feel it like we should if they were fully developed.
Cloverfield remains an ambitious if ultimately flawed film that takes more risks and tries to do more than any film in recent memory. It may be the first really good film of the year, if only by default, but if the rest of the year can keep up 2008 may end up having some promise cinematically after all.
FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):
