Cloverfield (2008)

directed by Matt Reeves

USA

85 minutes

4 stars out of 5

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It's been a long time since I've revisited Cloverfield. Being as cemented in pop culture as it is now (which isn't very, but it does have something approaching cult status), it's hard to imagine watching it with no knowledge of what was going to happen. I was growing up when this came out and I remember people acting almost personally offended by the shakycam filming style - somewhat understandable, since this was, as far as I can remember, the first really mainstream found-footage movie, at least since The Blair Witch Project. The sequels have gone in... weird directions, but at the time it was released, Cloverfield was a kind of excellent little slice of sci-fi/horror presented in a relatively new format.

As far as I'm concerned, Cloverfield joins the ranks of classic kaiju films not because it has a giant monster in it but because it has a human story that feels forced and boring. The film begins innocuously and obnoxiously as we're taken along for the ride while an increasingly drunk and annoying cameraman films "testimonials" at his friend's going-away party. We (and everybody else at the party) find out about his friend's affair, things become awkward, and the cameraman will not stop bugging this random girl (Lizzy Caplan) who doesn't even really want to be there. I sound like I'm ragging on it, but I don't mind the party segment of this film - it feels real enough to occupy the viewer's time while they wait for the action to kick in, and the music and the clothing styles can give you some "fun" whiplash if you, like me, can't comprehend something from 2008 looking so dated. Personally, I don't need a human story in a giant-monster movie; it can be interesting if it's done well, but I don't feel like I need somebody to relate to in every single movie I watch. I also dislike Clover's parasites for this same reason: They feel like they're only there so the human characters have something more in their own scale to interact with. But the going-away party only lasts for so long before it's interrupted.

At first everybody thinks it's a terrorist attack, of course, because the only thing anyone can see or hear from their place in the city is loud noises and lots of smoke. Even when the party spills out into the streets, there's so much confusion that nobody can tell what's going on. Fairly early, there's a somewhat iconic shot that I've always had a love-hate (okay, it's mostly hate-hate) relationship with: That scene where the Statue of Liberty's head comes flying out of the sky and lands in front of the main characters. Firstly, I would think a projectile of that mass launched at that speed from that height would make something of a giant crater rather than just kind of gently coming to rest in the street. Secondly, it's too convenient - the very first thing Clover smashes is America's most iconic monument? One could possibly argue that Clover thought it was another giant lifeform, and therefore a challenge, but Clover would really have no reason to recognize the Statue of Liberty as a lifeform any more than it would recognize an apartment building as a lifeform. What it feels like is a money shot; the creative team knowing they have the thing that's going to go on posters, blog articles, DVD covers, etc. And it encapsulates the tone of the film as a whole: A very, very well-done imitation of roughness, of spontaneity, of amateur filmmaking, but one that cost $25,000,000 to make.

There haven't been a lot of "on the ground" perspectives in a giant monster movie, which is why Cloverfield feels so fresh within the genre. The reactions of the main characters and the people around them make this movie hit home. But it's not consistent - the less said about T.J. Miller, the better, and Odette Annable as Beth is not the best actress I've ever seen - but sometimes it's really striking. Lizzy Caplan's character Marlena in utter shock as the only person in the main party who actually got a good look at Clover while everybody else was still confused and unaware is maybe one of my favorite parts of the first half of the film. Her delivery when she says "It was eating people", so blank and matter-of-fact, is way more effective than hysteria. It's also unusually tragic when Rob gets a call from his mother during a lull in the action and has to tell her his brother died. I think this movie does have a good handle on emotion, but only part of the time.

But let's talk about Clover. Oh ho ho ho. "Clover" is a nickname for the giant creature who really has a problem with Manhattan. Its official designation is "Large-Scale Aggressor", but you must stop me if you see me starting to go off about that, because I could talk for several more paragraphs about how referring to a lost, scared baby as an "Aggressor" cheeses me off. Clover is destructive not out of aggression, but due to being dropped in the middle of arguably the most bewildering civilized area in the country. Imagine you get lost in the middle of a maze, and you've never seen a maze before in your life, and you're also a baby. You are going to run into some walls. Unfortunately in Clover's case those walls are buildings with people in them. That Clover apparently eats humans (but finds T.J. Miller as unappetizing as the rest of his species does) isn't as big of a deal as I think this movie wants it to be, because again, this is a baby, and we all know how hard it is to keep babies from putting random things lying around on the ground into their mouth.

This movie feels like a video game. The way it progresses is like going through a series of challenges, some of which you fail: Try to keep all of your party alive while juking and dodging your way through a devastated city, with CGI rubble here and there and a creature or two on the loose. The film certainly has a video-game-like idea of what kind of damage a person can take - my "favorite" is Beth being apparently impaled through the shoulder and staked to her apartment floor, but then being able to run around as soon as she's freed and, inexplicably, move that arm, as if the piece of shrapnel just happened to conveniently bypass the muscles and bones in its way.

I guess I am being a little harsh on something that I rated four stars, but none of the things I've been pointing out actually bring me out of the movie. It wouldn't be as much of a thrill ride if there were more deaths or debilitating injuries to break up the flow of the story. This is a good movie; it got famous because it's really fun to watch and it's done in a (for the time) unusual style. The CGI still holds up for the most part, and although Clover never gets as much of the spotlight as I wish it would, this is still a very interesting version of the humans-vs-giant-monster story.