Slapinions

Saturday night Lisa and I burned the midnight oil and watched Cloverfield, a movie by the maker of Lost that I had been dying to see in the theaters but never got around to watching.

If you saw the previews you saw the essentials of the plot. New York is attacked by some thing and the Godzilla like attack leads to a mass evacuation. A small group of party-goers, one of whom has a video camera, tries to escape but they turn back to rescue a friend stranded in mid-town Manhattan. That places them squarely in the midst of the monster's attack, and the movie goes on from there.

I've never seen a Godzilla/Mothrilla movie that I liked, and I was disappointed when I  found out this movie was in that vein. On the other hand, as you may have heard by now, I have a fetish for 'end of the world in progress, last band of survivors' films, so it earned points there.

The verdict after watching it? I loved it! Even Lisa, who put off watching the DVD in hopes I'd watch it alone some day, wound up staying up later than she'd have liked just to finish watching it.

One reason I think it was well received in this house was the character development. It's a  monster movie and yet I know more about the characters than I do some ofthe people I've worked with for years. 

Rob is a successful businessman, on his way to Japan on the eve of the attaack. Unbeknownst to his friends, he had a one day fling with Beth McIntyre, a friend of long standing. He loves her, she loves him, and naturally neither one will admit it.

Jason is Rob's brother, and he's involved with Lily. Lily feels she's a part of their family, although I got the feeling she's jumping the gun a bit.

Hud, short for Hudson, is Rob's dufus friend and the videographer of the nights events. He has a crush on their goth-ish friend Miranda, who doesn't even remember him when they are re-introduced.

And so on.

I also loved the way the monster is  churning up the world at the center of events, yet barely explained or even seen for much of the film. A bit of the Jaws 'you only see the shark once or twice' kind of effect, and it works.

(Plus the parasitic spiders that hitchike on the beast are nasty. One bite from them and it's Ebola redux.)

Flaws? Well, sure, it isn't Wuthering Heights. It's still a monster flick, albeit a good one. What else? Hm, well the ending is not only bleak but given away in the first seconds of the film, should you read between the lines of the military text. And of course, someone would have either told the guy to shut off the camera at some point, or his battery would have run out. 

But then we wouldn't have a movie, would we? 

[dumbest reason not to see it: Socialist said that if he wanted to throw up from motion sickness he'd ride a roller coaster. That's a pathetic reason, one that referenced the moleycoddled wimps out there who asked for theater refunds because they experienced vertigo at the hands of the 'hand-held' camera.]

On a general scale, Cloverfield ratees 3 and a quarter stars out of 5. On my scale, 4 out of 5.  

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• #5 Comment from ipbookreviewer 
  4/30/08 9:32 AM | Permalink

  I enjoyed your review of this movie...I too had seen the reviews and never would have guessed it was a monster movie!  Bad publicity? Or, show them the best and they will come...
  
  Lots of good characters...well, I think I'll wait until it comes on tv...LOL
• #4 Comment from buckoclown 
  4/28/08 7:34 PM | Permalink

  Thanks for the review, I might have passed, but will now reconsider :o)
• #3 Comment from gryphondear 
  4/28/08 1:51 PM | Permalink

  Will have to rent this one for Lloyd. I do like my monsters to be "least in sight" with good special effects. *Alien* was good in that sense. Although, come to think, I've always liked the sequel, *Aliens* better. Also, at some point, good horror movie writers/directors discover Chuck Jones (of Wylie Coyote fame) and get the timing/repetition spiral right. Then I can really enjoy the movie.
  ;^) Jan the Gryphon
  http://journals.aol.com/gryphondear/Gryphondear's-Word-of-the-Day/
  
• #2 Comment from easteeleco 
  4/28/08 12:04 PM | Permalink

  I've been holding off seeing this one.  At first I was really excited to see it in the theatres because the previews looked good... but once the reviews started coming out, I hesitated.  Blair Witch pretty much took care of my need for "hand held" filming.   We'll see... Estela
• #1 Comment from jjdolfin9 
  4/28/08 11:32 AM | Permalink

  I just got it in the mail.  It's on for tonight.  We will see if our taste is the same.  I'm not big on monster movies but you made it sound pretty interesting.
  Joyce