The first thing I feel I need to clear up about “Cloverfield” is that it was not directed by J.J. Abrams. I realize a lot of you already knew that, but I was so sucked up into all the media buzz that surrounded this film before it came out (or we even knew it’s name) that all I saw was J.J.’s name attached to it. So he was the producer… Matt Reeves actually directed it. And considering the challenge he was presented with both in terms of originality and style, he did an awesome job. When word started hitting the internet about this ‘secret’ movie, rumors started flying as to what it was about. There was a trailer that showed home video of a bunch of yuppies hanging out at a party, who end up on the streets of New York trying to find why parts of the city seem to be exploding. After seeing them nearly being creamed by the flying head of the Statue of Liberty, trailer viewers were only given a date. No title, no nothing. I heard rumors that it was a type of Godzilla movie, heck I even heard it was going to be a Voltron movie. Fortunately, the latter did not turn out to be true.

Once the truth of “Cloverfield” came to light, audiences tuned out in droves to watch something new… something different. I, on the other hand opted to wait for the DVD. And from what I heard about the experience in theatres, I’m glad I did. What Abrams and Reeves came up with was take an unoriginal idea and combine it with an unlikely genre. We all remember “The Blair Witch Project”, which delivered a story told through the lens of a home video camera. The film was supposed to be taken from footage found after the disappearance of the lead characters. Since that time, there have been several attempts to create movies this way. Some have worked… others haven’t. The idea of mixing this style with an old-fashioned ‘Giant Monster Movie’ seems destined for failure.

However, “Cloverfield” is far from a failure. It delivers exactly what it sets out to do, which is to put the viewers right in the middle of the action and scare the hell out of us. The film opens much the same way as the trailer, with plans being made for a going away party. All of this is shown as it is filmed through a video camera, only with different people holding it. This is what takes so much getting used to, even on a smaller screen. The camera is constantly moving, but not with the sure and steady hand of a seasoned cinematographer. Nope, it’s more like the drunken hand of your Uncle Bernie. Seriously… watch any of your home videos from weddings and parties, and that is exactly what this movie looks like from start to finish. It is a constant barrage of unplanned jump cuts and edits (from turning the camera on and off) and all. While this sounds like a terrible idea, trust me… it really works.

The party, which seems to go on forever, does a great job of setting up the ‘normalcy’ and every day life we all experience. But what these initial scenes do is help the viewer stay in the real world once all hell breaks loose. Watching the movie, I rarely felt as though I was watching a movie as much as watching something that actually happened. The mix of fantasy (in the form of the creatures) and the reality was seamless. The added nausea that you feel from watching the events unfold in such an unsteady manner really punched up the fear.

I had heard some people say that creating the film this way kept the characters distanced from the audience, making it less effective when someone died. I completely disagree. In lesser hand this might be the case, but Reeves brought out some great performances from his cast. I could identify with some of them, wondering how I would react in the same situation. Seeing the events unfold ‘through their eyes’ brought me right into their group, as if I were one of them. The characters might not have had much of a chance to be developed, but then when do most of us have a chance to ‘develop’ our characters on a day to day basis. We knew all we needed to know about them, and what we learned from their actions (whether smart or stupid) made them all the more real for me. When a person was lost, there was an emotional resonance, but it was short lived only by the terrors that waited around the next corner, not by the stylistic choices made in creating this film.

The look of the film is amazing, considering the style. There was no point in the movie where I didn’t feel as though I was really watching New York being decimated. And stylistically I liked the fact that you rarely got a good look at what was doing all the damage. I mean, eventually you do, but the majority of the time you just get glimpses. Going a step further with this, I have to applaud the filmmakers on never getting into what the monster was, or where it came from. All viewers had to care about was what was happening, as it was happening. Again, this just served to draw me into the emotions of the characters. They didn’t know, so why should we? We could feel the same frustration they did, the not knowing. All they had to do was survive, and hopefully us along with them.

Paramount is releasing a single disc DVD for “Cloverfield”, and while I was expecting some kind of super-duper 2-dsic set, they delivered all they needed to here. There is a collection of deleted scenes and alternate endings, but none of these were really worth the time to watch. What really grabbed me was the commentary by Reeves. Since the film is a tight 87 minutes, listening to the commentary was not the chore that some can be. Reeves is engaging and full of energy, which mixed with the short run time make for a very entertaining commentary. You’ll also find some featurettes on the visual effects and the like, but the absolute best feature is the documentary on the making of the film. It is an extremely detailed look into the film, taking you literally from scene to scene. And seeing how they did what they did, especially considering the style of the film, is absolutely amazing.

“Cloverfield” is more than just an excellent monster movie. It is an extremely realistic look at a most unrealistic situation as you will ever find, and one heck of a rollercoaster ride to boot. (You just might to take some Dramamine before watching it though!)

Directed by: Matt Reeves
Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel
Extras: Commentary by Director Matt Reeves, The Making of Cloverfield, Cloverfield Visual Effects, I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge!, Clover Fun, Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary, Alternate Endings with Optional Commentary, Hidden Research into case designate Cloverfield
Specifications:
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 4/22/2008
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Website

We'll give Cloverfield an A.