Cloverfield

*** Stars

It is so refreshing to see a movie event in January. The hype of J.J Abrams 1-18-08 project was absolutely astounding, with its brilliant trailer and the YouTube crowd flocking about sites trying to figure out what the hell is attacking New York City. And if you think seeing the film is the answer, you may be surprised to see that you won't get it. I've seen it twice and I still have no idea what Cloverfield means, but thats the smarts of it. It is just footage of something that would happen if our society was attacked by something. This is The Blair Witch Project and Godzilla, wrapped up and sold on YouTube. I was pulled in.

It's kind of a groundbreaking approach to moviemaking. Take all unknown actors, throw them in a setting every young adult knows (boozing, relationship issues, and parties) and then get attacked by a monster, all shot from a home video. All the actors give appropriately forgettable performances, as anyone would on a home-video. The production cost was only $25 million, which is amazing because it all looks so real. It grossed $46 million in its first weekend and has given audiences hope that theres more to January films then One Missed Call.


So what does the word Cloverfield mean? Well the film begins with a military code named CLOVERFIELD that shows the footage of what happened that night. Director Matt Reeves and Producer J.J Abrams won't explain the significance, which makes their marketing campaign brilliant. The tagline could have been, "Who wants to see what would happen to you if this happened?"...with the statue of liberty missing its head. The film makes us believe that it could happen to anyone and it pulls that off very well.

Ok, so there is a reason why haven't mentioned any plot points yet in my review. The reason is because there is no plot. No characters are really introduced and there is no structure towards a story. Try not to read to much into it because there's really nothing to read. It's a movie for those who like to look at the pictures and ignore the article. The films only foundation is a group of people who go to a party, get drunk, and then run away from a monster. Are they just hallucinating? Do they think this is a joke? Are they going to wake up with a hangover and pretend that it was just another wild night? Does the rest of the world survive? Do they ever kill the monster? Is the president safe? Where did this THING come from? These questions prove the film did its job. It's not a movie, only an experience. I only wished they kept the title 1-18-08, and then have the event occur on 1-18-08, which would have made it the first film title to be named after its release date and for it to ironically occur in real time.