Rama’s SCREEN

CLOVERFIELD Review

January 18th, 2008 | Category: *THRILLER, On DVD, Rockin' Review

Cloverfield
The most talked about movie since the teaser arrived last year attached to the movie Transformers, has arrived and to be real with you… it doesn’t live up to the hype. I’m aware that most people already cheer for how unconventional this movie looks and feels but if I say the same thing, then I’d be lying. Hand-held camera action film-making becomes… more and more of a trend these days, I personally hope that it’s just a phase that soon will die so that steady camera work can come back to regain its throne. CLOVERFIELD is a fun, wild ride for those of you who love movie watching experience that makes you feel like a part of the movie, like you’re running around in the sequence with the characters. For those of you who hate that particular method, then this movie will still be a ride…. to hell.

A small group of people are having a farewell party for their friend when suddenly some thing attacks New York City and they are forced to run to their friend’s apartment to rescue her. This event is documented in an amateur video camera.

Cloverfield

Visual effects…I say it’s pretty awesome. The way director Matt Reeves and his crew managed to create a chaotic Manhattan has left me speechless. From the stunning view of the explosions that happens downtown, the realistic look of lady liberty’s head crash landing on New York public road all the way to how the monster appears nothing like what people have assumed these past few months. I do however wish the hand-held camera technique could’ve been reduced and not used too often. At times you don’t know what’s going on and you can’t see what the surprises are and it’s because the camera’s all over the place.

I loathe the storyline. These few people are the only ones the camera mostly focuses on and they’re boring. In a way I can understand the bad acting because they need to represent real life situation. I wish they spent more time on the up on the streets where the action is so we could see how the fighting and how it all goes down. One thing was weird though, it’s supposed to be New York City, a place filled with millions of people, but what you see in this movie is just a handful of people running and screaming on the street. They should’ve had lots and lots of more people/extras to be panicking around, trying to stay as far away from the debris.
I am however very impressed with the sound mixing and the sound editing. Every firepower, the monster’s scream, the noises of buildings, cars, and helicopters, the sound is simply great.

This whole shaky camera business is making me dizzy, literally. Just because you’re a master when it comes to that doesn’t mean jack to me. My little cousin could hold the camera like that and still would come up with better results.

When I saw the trailer last year I thought whatever this was going to be, they should have it as summer blockbuster, which was why I was confused when after the trailer.. the screen indicated the release date: 1/18/08. Now I know why it deserves to come out in January which is usually the dumping ground for movies that either suck or they’re just okay. If it were to be released this coming summer, then it would be a disgrace to other actual great summer movies like The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Speed Racer, and Indiana Jones.

* Place the cursor on the picture below to check my grade for this film