Cloverfield delivers exactly what its memorable coming attractions trailer promised, and it doesn't chicken out when it counts, either. Considering the state of horror movies today, that's something.
Cloverfield (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:192
Fresh:147
Rotten:45
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: A sort of Blair Witch Project crossed with Godzilla, Cloverfield is economically paced, stylistically clever, and filled with scares.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for violence, terror and disturbing images.
Runtime: 85 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Theatrical Release:01-02-2008
Synopsis: Director Matt Reeves (THE PALLBEARER) and producer J. J. Abrams (LOST, ALIAS) turn a mysterious monster loose in Manhattan in the disaster flick CLOVERFIELD. The movie begins at a party for Rob... Director Matt Reeves (THE PALLBEARER) and producer J. J. Abrams (LOST, ALIAS) turn a mysterious monster loose in Manhattan in the disaster flick CLOVERFIELD. The movie begins at a party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David), who has accepted a promotion that will send him to Japan. Hud (T. J. Miller) is entrusted with the responsibility of videotaping the party--and as the trouble grows, he holds on to the camera, recording everything that happens. In fact, the entire movie is seen through the lens of his camera, reminiscent of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. As terrified people in a post-9/11 New York City take to the streets, Rob decides to head uptown to try to save Beth (Odette Yustman), the woman he loves, though he's afraid to tell her so. Rob is joined by his brother Jason (Mike Vogel), Jason's girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas), Lily's friend Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), and Hud, who has a thing for Marlena. Rob is determined not to give up, even after almost being crushed by the Statue of Liberty's head and as the military shows up to force evacuation of the city. Reeves and first-time screenwriter Drew Goddard, who previously has written television episodes of such series as BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL, ALIAS, and LOST, focus in on the central aspect of the story: people trying to survive the monster attack. Very little else is explained, since the story is told completely through the video camera. And there is no additional score to heighten the drama; the only music is that which is picked up by Hud and the camera's microphone, including snippets of songs by Kings of Leon, Parliament Funkadelic, Of Montreal, and others. The anticipation of CLOVERFIELD's release was enhanced by a viral marketing campaign that included Web sites built around the main characters and even the fictional drink Slusho. [More]
Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman, Lizzy Caplan
Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller
Director: Matt Reeves
Director: Matt Reeves
Screenwriter: Drew Goddard
Producer: J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for Cloverfield
Cloverfield packs its 84-minute running time with immediacy, inventiveness and freaky fever-dream visions of hellish destruction.
The f/x guys have provided a seamless blending of computer-generated and real footage, and by limiting our perspective to just what Hud sees through his viewfinder, the fantastic is rendered plausible.
The filmmakers wisely avoid showing you everything, instead showing only bits and hints of what's going on, a technique that really fuels fear in a viewer.
Cloverfield is visceral attack that it leaves the viewer reeling for details that flew by like so many bricks raining off broken buildings.
This science-fiction/thriller is smart enough to wrap things up quickly. At less than 90 minutes, it's a lean, mean monster movie -- even if it's gimmicky filmmaking makes it an acquired taste.
A remarkably economical, street-level view of widespread panic caused by an abomination that gets, and ultimately needs, no explanation.
Cloverfield captures the chronic self-absorption of the Facebook generation with breathless, cleverly recycled media savvy, and then it stomps that self-absorption to death. These days, that's entertainment.
The film's overriding sense of the unknown ratchets up the suspense, if not the terror.
It's not the life-changing movie experience the intense viral marketing attention would lead you to think it is, but its decision to focus on ground-level humanism rather than epic disaster is what separates it from the pack.
A combination of unpleasantness and stupidity that would be difficult to match, unless you were stuck in bed with the shingles while being forced to watch The Ghost Whisperer.
Despite the lengthy party sequence that introduces the cast, these people are less characters than easy-on-the-eyes conceits: Young, hip, essentially interchangeable and willfully stupid. What's worse, though, is that the film is all surface.
Now that the fanboy hype has cleared, we can see Cloverfield for what it is: borrowed inspiration, trite screenwriting and amateurish acting all in the service of a ballsy idea.
An effective film, deploying its special effects well and never breaking the illusion that it is all happening as we see it.
Reeves does a masterful job wedding the restricted perspective of Hud's lens with CGI glimpses of an already blasted cityscape. This is the gimmick's raw excitement phase -- we're hooked.
Cloverfield is a non-stop smashfest meant to be forgotten as soon as it's over, then repeated the following weekend for people eternally hungry for empty sensations. If you're too old for that, find yourself another film.
Works as a showcase for impressively realistic-looking special effects, a realism that fails to extend to the scurrying humans whose fates are meant to invoke pity and fear but instead inspire yawns and contempt.
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