|
|
by Jeff Eason |
|
Cloverfield’s amateurish
camera-work adds to its realism
I can’t remember when a movie hit the theaters
with as much pre-release buzz as the new monster movie
Cloverfield. By now, most film lovers know that Cloverfield,
produced by J.J. Abrams (of TV’s Lost fame), was
shot with handheld cameras, supposedly by the characters
in the film. This is the same technique used in The Blair
Witch Project, only here it adds to the realism of the
film as opposed to simply making the audience nauseous.
The cast of the
smash hit comedy How I Met Your Monster. Jessica
Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, Michael Stahl-David and T.J.
Miller star as terrorized young Manhattanites
in the new horror film Cloverfield.
|
The Army’s
decontamination unit swoops down on the cast of
Cloverfield. |
As Cloverfield opens, a bunch of twenty-something Manhattanites
are preparing to throw a bon voyage party for one of their
friends. Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) has taken a
promotion and will be leaving for Japan, so his brother
Jason (Mike Vogel) and Jason’s girlfriend Lily (Jessica
Lucas) bring out the booze and invite all of their friends.
The first 20 to 25 minutes of the movie are designed to
introduce the audience to the various young adults who
will eventually be eaten or crushed. That’s standard
horror movie procedure, except here none of the characters
has any personality to speak of save a big doofus named
Hud (T.J. Miller), who ends up commanding the camera for
the majority of the movie.
An earthquake-like shock shakes Manhattan so the party-goers
go to the roof to see if they can see what’s happening.
In the distance they see hundred-story buildings being
destroyed while they hear explosions and sirens.
The rest of the movie is quite effective as five principal
characters from the party try to get the heck out of Manhattan.
Hud continues to film the action, believing that he has
an important historical document on his hands. When Rob
realizes that the girl he loves, Beth (Odette Yustman),
is trapped in her father’s apartment building bordering
Central Park, he and the others try to cross town in an
effort to save her.
The major portion of the buzz for Cloverfield was created
by its innovative promotional trailers, which were first
introduced before the airing of Transformers last summer.
It and subsequent trailers used the handheld thing and
the sheer panic of the actors to convey the monster’s
size and ugliness. If that has you worried that the film
itself doesn’t really show the hideous thing, fear
not. This unnamed beast is about forty stories tall and
looks like combination of Godzilla, The Lord of the Rings’
Gollum, and the nasty alien from Predator. Worse for Manhattanites,
the giant creature has parasites the size of large dogs
that fall off of it and scurry away looking for people
to bite.
While Rob and the others look for Beth, the military is
looking for a way to destroy the creature. It then becomes
a race against the clock for the crew to get off the island
before the bombs start to drop.
Cloverfield gets its strength from pretending to be an
actual videotape found in the aftermath of the destruction.
None of the actors can be readily traced to other major
roles so we get sucked into believing that they are who
they say they are. In an age when we are bombarded by
computer graphics in every sci-fi and horror movie we
see, there’s something unique about Cloverfield’s
special effects that attach themselves to camera shots
that could have been made by anybody.
With Cloverfield and I Am Legend, it appears that post-9/11
reverence for Manhattan has come to a close and it is
once again okay to wreck the joint…at least in the
movies. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled during the final
shot of Coney Island for a glimpse of the creature’s
arrival!
Cloverfield is rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing
images. It is currently playing at Regal Cinema in Boone.
The nominees for the 80th annual Academy Awards
were announced on Tuesday. Barring any cancellation due
to the writers’ strike, the awards will be given
out at a ceremony in Hollywood on Sunday, February 24th.
The nominees for Best Picture include Atonemente:, Juno,
Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There Will
Be Blood.
The nominees for Best Actor include George Clooney (Michael
Clayton), Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Johnny
Depp (Sweeney Todd), Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of
Elah) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises).
The nominees for Best Actress include Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth:
The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Marion
Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), Laura Linney (The Savages)
and Ellen Page (Juno).
The nominees for Best Supporting Actor include Casey Affleck
(The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert
Ford), Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), Hal Holbrook
(Into the Wild), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson’s
War) and Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton).
The nominees for Best Supporting Actress include Cate
Blanchett (I’m Not There), Ruby Dee (American Gangster),
Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) and
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton).
|
|
|
|
Get Firefox