Good ideas do not always make the best movie
Just when it seemed like every movie was just like the rest, “Cloverfield” arrived to bring something unique to the table.
Unfortunately, unique is not synonymous with good.
The movie had the utmost possibilities to be something amazing. It has been shrouded in mystery since its first preview before Transformers in July 2007 and has been a topic of conversation since.
It brings the shaky documentary style filming to an apocalyptic monster film, which creates a new spin to the popular apocalyptic genre. Plus the cast is small and contains relatively unknown actors, which gives a higher sense of realism that these people are just people and not actors.
J.J. Abrams, best known for creating the hit television shows “Alias” and “Lost” as well as the movie “Mission: Impossible 3”, is one of the movie’s main creators.
Regardless of all these great ingredients, the end recipe for “Cloverfield” comes out a little bitter.
The movie is definitely worth seeing but it is not everything it could have been. The plot (without giving it away) is irritating and not about getting out of New York like one would think.
The characters start off in a realistic situation: there is a party, people are uncomfortable, and the biggest topic is who slept with who. When the monster finally comes there is definite excitement and the feeling of realism continues.
However, the relatively relatable characters quickly become more like cockroaches as they survive horrible situation after horrible situation. While no one wants to see a movie where the entire cast dies in 15 minutes, this one pushes the envelope on what people can actually survive too far.
Finally, there is the monster. It is hard to talk about without ruining the film, so it is best to keep it brief. The monster is merely hinted at and only parts of it are seen for the first half of the very short (85 minutes) film, and that is when it is awesome. Unfortunately, that all changes as the movie progresses.
While the movie should and could have been more, “Cloverfield” is still worth seeing. Just remember to bring a barf bag for the movie’s use of the shaky camera.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Cameron Naish at cameron.naish@thecampuspress.com.
