ROTTEN TOMATOES: RT on DVD: Cloverfield, Charlie Wilson and 2008's Worst-Reviewed Film Comments

RT on DVD: Cloverfield, Charlie Wilson and 2008's Worst-Reviewed Film

by Jen Yamato and Alex Vo | April 21, 2008

Summary

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a Slusho, whatever that is! Cloverfield stomps its way onto DVD as not only the most exciting new release of the week, but the one most chock-full of special features. Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages, and The Orphanage are also new -- but be on the lookout as the year's worst flick to date, One Missed Call, also shuffles onto shelves. Back to Article

(41-47 of 47 posts) | Reply

Shadow16nh writes:
on Apr 23 2008 12:16 AM

In reply to this comment (#1700662)
From what I remember they were very close friends who had just finally slept together for the first time before this disaster happened. So... it doesn't seem that unreasonable to me that his character would go to such great lengths when he'd probably been in love with her for sometime.

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TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Apr 23 2008 09:29 AM

I'm working on this theory about movie-viewing:

People's expectation and preconcept of a movie makes up NO LESS than 66% (two thirds) of their enjoyment of the movie, afterwards.

Be it resolved that, in Cloverfield;

-THE EFFECTS WERE ABOVE AVERAGE, protected somewhat by the 'handicam' and 'night' cloaks. there were no glaring strings, cables or threads sticking out. There was no shell or aura blur around monuments which got destroyed. The sets did not clearly look like, well, sets. I actually thought that, conceptually, the alien looked cool.

-THE ACTING WAS ABOUT AVERAGE; with reasonable suspension of disbelief, one could accept that these folks were in a tense situation. No one grossly broke character. The dialogue at least supported the action, for the most part.

-THE PLOT WAS THIN, DAMAGED BY LACK OF LOGIC, BUT GENERALLY CONSISTENT.
good: Alien attacks, REALLY F#cks things up, New York not really prepared to deal.
bad:
Dude loses his brother, gets over it in about 8 minutes but goes on Lord of the Rings quest to save girl he boned and broke up with.
They get UPTOWN about 50 blocks on foot in darkened subways (girls in heels) in what, 15 minutes?
Everyone who is given the chance becomes heroic. None of the protagonists is overcome with fear at a crucial, pivotal moment.
Helicopter does not fly high enough over city to avoid alien, despite being piloted by seasoned military troops and FACED WITH A 60-FOOT ALIEN.

If it can be accepted that, generally, this is an accurate assessment of Cloverfield, then I draw attention to people's posts. It SUCKED, because it was a rip-off of THIS movie. It was GREAT because it *drew* from THIS movie. It SUCKED because the trailers made it look like THIS. It ROCKED because it was just like the trailers!

Anyway, it's a theory in progress. 66% just feels about right. ...All I ask is that if you disagree, give me something interesting to work with. I've already been called a f#g, #sshole, moron, douchebag, loser-virgin, so just *assume* I'm on notice how deficient I am and save your RT breath.

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sliknik27 writes:
on Apr 23 2008 11:22 AM

I bet I can make One Missed Call seem even worse if I rent it and The Orphanage the same weekend. A zero percent on the tomato-meter demands a viewing with a large group of obnoxious friends.

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Shadow16nh writes:
on Apr 23 2008 12:12 PM

In reply to this comment (#1701278)
I like talking about this movie so don't take anything personally. You're making some nice points but I can't agree with your assessment of the plot. The main character doesn't simply "get over" the loss of his brother. During one of just a few moments where they have the luxury of time to stop and think he spends a good deal of time talking to his mother about his brother's death. The guy's mostly in a daze, but is able to focus instinctively on saving someone he loves and knows may be alive. And come on, actually taking in someone's death and coming to fully realize emotionally that they're actually gone is something that would take a while to sink in and deal with, so just how much more time would he need to stop and mourn before you would be satisfied the loss was genuinely recognized? You're also forgetting that yes, 15 minutes or so may have passed for us watching the movie but from what I recall, the footage from the handheld cuts and jumps numerous times, and you would only need one or two cuts really to understand that a good deal of time had passed, so I don't see why you felt they traveled too quickly, add to that the subway allows them to make good time going forward for the most part without impedance. Also, yes, the characters are generally heroic; all in all turn out to be a bunch of solid citizens. Is that really something to be surprised by or dismayed from a logical standpoint? They certainly seemed to display a great deal of fear, shock, fumbling to think of what to do, arguments with each other... what other interpersonal obstacles are really necessary to make this anymore believable?
The only thing I could see a problem with is, yes, the helicopter pilot doesn't seem concerned enough with their safety to fly out of reach of the monster, but oh well, it serves to rob you of the Hollywood ending, and while its not necessary I'm fine with ending the film that way, it was part of a larger emotional effect the filmmakers were going for since the lovers ultimately proved to be doomed, and trying to make you feel the loss/regret over what may have proved to be a loving relationship.
Really I think this movie just attacks your senses, and kind of overwhelms you and what you're able to focus on. Then there's also a lot of action-junkies who were waiting for the big destructive scenes and were left twiddling their thumbs otherwise, so I think that's really why this film is sort of polarizing. A lot of care was put into making the sparse disaster scenes more potent emotionally, and that's why I personally elevate this film above others related to it by genre.

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lestatthevampire writes:
on Apr 23 2008 01:18 PM

One Missed Call bombed?
Surprising...

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dreamworks21 writes:
on Apr 23 2008 01:38 PM

cloverfield was definitely a movie that lived up to the hype. expertly crafted, and pretty freakin good considering the miniscule sub-$30 million budget. a great theater flick, through and through.

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Spiderbash writes:
on Apr 24 2008 07:17 AM

I find it funny that some people say that in Cloverfield they did not care if the characters lived or died because I wanted for the main character's friend in the film.

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