CLOVERFIELD: The Best Monster Movie We've Had In A Long Time
 If you’re going to see CLOVERFIELD because you’re looking for an in-depth character study or some sort of psychological thriller about an unknown creature or even some version of LOST in Manhattan, please move on. This movie is not for you.
If you’re looking for an exciting, gripping, realistic (well, as realistic as it can be) monster movie, then go right ahead and buy that ticket.
After months of cryptically cool trailers and all kinds of internet hype, CLOVERFIELD turns out to be exactly what I wanted it to be — a simple story about a not-so-simple monster attack. It’s a little BLAIR WITCH PROJECT with the camera, but these filmmakers know how to finesse shaky. It’s a little 28 DAYS LATER with its apocalyptic themes, but there are no freaky half-eaten bodies lying around. It’s a lot GODZILLA with the big, scary, parasite-leaking monster. (Yeah, it’s got little friends that attack too.) I jumped. I cringed. I laughed. I enjoyed every minute of it.
The movie opens on April 27, supposedly the most perfect day of Rob’s (Michael Stahl-David) life. He and his girlfriend, Beth (Odette Yustman), are going to spend the day at Coney Island. This cheesy little love fest gets cut short when the video jumps ahead to May 22. Rob’s brother Jason (Michael Vogel) has the camera, and he and his girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas) are planning a going away party for him. At the party, Jason hands the camera over to Rob’s best friend Hud (T.J. Miller) so they can record good
The first part of the movie is Hud going around documenting the party with his horrible camera work. When Rob and Beth have a fight on the landing, Hud and Jason go out to talk to their friend when something happens. That something is the kickstart to the second act, and the crazy monster movie begins.
With Hud’s amateurish camera skills, he documents the crazy night that begins with the Statue of Liberty’s head landing in the middle of Manhattan, and ending with…well, I’m not going to tell you that. Why ruin it? What I will say is that CLOVERFIELD may fall nicely into the monster movie genre, but it does it more quietly than most.
You see the monster, but not fully. You’re always trying to figure out exactly what it is—just as Hud and company are. There’s not a lot of running and screaming, but there are lots of eerily quiet scenes that keep you energized and waiting for something not so quiet to happen. And then there’s that camera work.
I’ve read a lot of complaining about the home video look of the movie. People are saying it jumps around too much; they’re getting queasy. I didn’t think this at all. Yes, there’s definitely a lot of movement and unsteady shots, but even when the camera is whipping back and forth to catch the hysteria, there’s still a slightly steady hand to it. In other words, it jumps and shakes and moves, but it’s nothing like the camera work of BLAIR WITCH. I might compare it more to the BOURNE series.
Besides the camera work, I loved the characters. You really don’t get to know them all that well. Only Rob and Beth get any real backstory, but I didn’t mind. CLOVERFIELD isn’t about the people, it’s about them dealing with this situation. That being said, my favorite character is Hud. He’s the comic relief, the chatterbox you wish would stop talking but at the same time, it’s a comfort to hear his voice. You hardly see his face on screen, but his presence makes the whole disaster a little more grounded.
My only real complaint about the movie, if this can even be considered a complaint, is the shot that basically mimics one of the many home video shots from 9/11. It is unnerving and threw me out of the movie for about two minutes. I wish director Matt Reeves had made a different decision. I know it’s a movie with buildings collapsing in New York, and I’m OK with that. But this particular scene — a large dust cloud moves down the street and the characters find shelter in a convenience store — is a little too real and not enough monster.
Even with this little hiccup, CLOVERFIELD is one of the best monster movies I’ve seen in a long time. Yeah, take that, Peter Jackson.
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