In middle school and high school my English teachers taught me, "show, don't tell". Coincidently, this handy reminder applies perfectly for the movie Cloverfield. They showed us everything we wanted, and didn't tell us just the right things. Max and I went and saw the new monster blockbuster on opening night. We were pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
Without spoiling any major points about the movie, it takes place in the Big Apple. The man of the night is Rob, a successful college graduate who is about to take a trip to Japan. His sister, Lily along with many others, form a going away party for Rob. During the party he gets into an argument with his so-called girlfriend, Beth. Angry and wanting to be alone she leaves the party and heads home. Cooling off outside, Rob brother Jason tries talking with him. And then it all happens... Before you know it there's a huge explosion downtown and panic starts escalating due to huge pieces of debris raining down on the nearby buildings (including the head of the Statue of Liberty). From this point on, the movie takes a depressing plunge into a survival suspense thriller that will keep your at the edge of your seats until the credits start rolling. Feeling regret about the argument, Rob decides to go find Beth, who is, just by chance, in the same direction of the mysterious creature's path. Throughout all these action-packed events, Hud, Rob's best friend is video taping everything.
Obviously one of the main gripes about the movie was the handheld camera "shakiness" throughout the entire movie. People say that the camera perspective distracted them and made the movie hard to watch. Even my father saw the movie and said he had to leave the theatre because he felt like he had motion sickness. Though this is true, I believe it's what made the movie. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did, or taken it as seriously as I did, if it were the normal smooth camera choreography. Yeah, it was annoying at points, yeah, but that's what made it unique.
Some of the details they put into the scenes with the monster(s) were truly incredible. Our jaws dropped during any scene that showed this enormous monster and/or its smaller counterparts rampaging through New York. The movie leaves you with a sense of incompletion, however it's one of those movies that I feel can do that correctly. Cloverfield keeps the viewer in awe of how real the events in the movie look. Another huge part of the realism for me was that they didn't recruit any of the well-known actors for the movie. Good choice. If I saw Tom Cruise as Rob, or maybe Cameron Diaz as Beth, it would be a big turn-off for me. I'd connect the famous actors with their previous work and it would take me out of the reality experience. Not knowing anything about the actors helped augment the mystery behind the whole movie. It kept your wondering what the hell is going to happen next.
I meant to post this earlier since we saw the movie on opening night; oh well. Still, go see Cloverfield if you haven't. It's different and it's pretty awesome. Max and I are looking to go see it again before it gets pushed out of the theaters.
Without spoiling any major points about the movie, it takes place in the Big Apple. The man of the night is Rob, a successful college graduate who is about to take a trip to Japan. His sister, Lily along with many others, form a going away party for Rob. During the party he gets into an argument with his so-called girlfriend, Beth. Angry and wanting to be alone she leaves the party and heads home. Cooling off outside, Rob brother Jason tries talking with him. And then it all happens... Before you know it there's a huge explosion downtown and panic starts escalating due to huge pieces of debris raining down on the nearby buildings (including the head of the Statue of Liberty). From this point on, the movie takes a depressing plunge into a survival suspense thriller that will keep your at the edge of your seats until the credits start rolling. Feeling regret about the argument, Rob decides to go find Beth, who is, just by chance, in the same direction of the mysterious creature's path. Throughout all these action-packed events, Hud, Rob's best friend is video taping everything.
Obviously one of the main gripes about the movie was the handheld camera "shakiness" throughout the entire movie. People say that the camera perspective distracted them and made the movie hard to watch. Even my father saw the movie and said he had to leave the theatre because he felt like he had motion sickness. Though this is true, I believe it's what made the movie. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did, or taken it as seriously as I did, if it were the normal smooth camera choreography. Yeah, it was annoying at points, yeah, but that's what made it unique.
Some of the details they put into the scenes with the monster(s) were truly incredible. Our jaws dropped during any scene that showed this enormous monster and/or its smaller counterparts rampaging through New York. The movie leaves you with a sense of incompletion, however it's one of those movies that I feel can do that correctly. Cloverfield keeps the viewer in awe of how real the events in the movie look. Another huge part of the realism for me was that they didn't recruit any of the well-known actors for the movie. Good choice. If I saw Tom Cruise as Rob, or maybe Cameron Diaz as Beth, it would be a big turn-off for me. I'd connect the famous actors with their previous work and it would take me out of the reality experience. Not knowing anything about the actors helped augment the mystery behind the whole movie. It kept your wondering what the hell is going to happen next.
I meant to post this earlier since we saw the movie on opening night; oh well. Still, go see Cloverfield if you haven't. It's different and it's pretty awesome. Max and I are looking to go see it again before it gets pushed out of the theaters.
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