I'm going to see Cloverfield at midnight tonight. Opening night for what I hope turns out to be an awesome ride. I'll update this post tomorrow to let you know if it was worth sacrificing a good night's sleep. Then again, Molly has a cold, so the concept of a good night's sleep is relative...**************************************************************************
So after seeing this flick and thinking about it this morning, I will give it 4 out of 5 stars. It is not in the pantheon of movies that I love, but it is certainly one that I would love to watch again and again.
Like most Hollywood movies, this movie is a victim of its own hype. It burst onto the scene last summer as an unnamed trailer before Transformers. I think the trailer was more exciting than Transformers, and that is a lot for a movie to live up to. Since that time, J.J. Abrams has played his audience perfectly to build up the perfect storm of hype in a relatively dull time of year for movies. Thus, there was almost no way that the movie could live up to the hype. If this movie had zero promotion and I saw it on a recommendation, it would probably get that extra star.
As for the film itself, I won't give any spoilers to ruin it for you all. The monster is awesome. The mayhem is amazing. The first person perspective is perfect to give the feeling that you are involved in an unfolding tragedy. It also is extremely well written and acted. I think Abrams must have had to work extra hard to make his story unfold using the handy cam style. It works brilliantly. I was surprised at how much emotional attachment toward the characters came from using this technique. Even the back story was very poignant. I think that serves to make the horror unfolding that much worse. It's not like Aliens when just another Marine gets picked off (most people don't know all their names like we do). When these characters die, it really hits home.
Anyway, I strongly recommend this flick. You will not be disappointed. Just don't expect it to be a revolutionary cinematic experience. It is certainly a great flick, but it falls short of the hype. Sure it will make tons of cash for Paramount, but it will get beat out at the box office when the next blockbuster hits in a week or 2. Go see it in the theater for the experience. Plenty of "audience bonding moments" both funny and scary. This will also be a great flick on Blu-ray when it comes out for Christmas (my prediction).
By the way, I mentioned that our first intro to Cloverfield was as a trailer that outshone Transformers. It is ironic that Cloverfield itself was perhaps outshone by a trailer that was attached to it: Star Trek!!! That's right, Abrams is relaunching Star Trek this Christmas, and the trailer was amazing! I may be in the minority, but that old music just gets me fired up. I'm watching Khan this weekend!
4 comments:
Dude, you must let me know how it goes. I'm cautiously optimistic, but then again, I felt the same about 'Blair Witch' and look how that turned out...
When I die someone needs to utter these words, then play "Amazing Grace" on a bagpipe:
"Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human."
I'll do that Colin, but I will probably laugh when I say "human", as opposed to getting choked up.
On the drive in to work the other day, the radio show had on the guy that is the dude running the camera in the movie. It wasn't a cameraman, but actually an actor, and he said Abrams talked to him more about shooting the scenes than acting in them. It was pretty funny.
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