Cloverfield - LetterboxD Review

Link to original review

I remember the first time I saw Cloverfield at the cinema along with the feeling of being absolutely blown away by its originality (back in 2008, the found footage genre hadn't saturated the market as it has today), the sheer thrill of the ride and the power and gut wrenching intensity of its soundtrack and visuals. It was one of those films that once I had a copy of it on DVD, I watched it over and over again, back to back, until my eyes started to bleed (figuratively!). So how has the last 4 and a half years treated it. This viewing was the first in a number of years so would it still as good as memory served it or was it starting the slow road to anonymity? Or something in between?

I always remember liking how quickly it felt like things "got going" in Cloverfield. Around 20 minutes in and all the introductions have been made, the scene has been set and some "horrific shit" is about to go down. Watching it this time, didn't feel quite as quick. The intro's to the characters seem rather clunky and for what it's worth, with a couple of exceptions, the characters that are being introduced come across as mildly unlikable, upper middle class snobs who have far too much time on their hands. Do I want to be taking this ride with these people? I figured that 3 of the 6 main characters are likable enough so yeah, that's enough I suppose to be interested!

Having survived the build up to and the party itself, we find ourselves on the roof of an apartment block somewhere in New York moments after an earthquake. A, quite literally massive explosion suddenly rocks central Manhattan and the fallout sends our protagonists spilling out onto the streets where we get our first glimpse of some sort of Godzilla like creature before jumping out of the way of a flailing statue head and then ducking for cover into a shop before a 9/11 like smoke cloud engulfs the street from a nearby building collapse. OK, I think we're in business now and you certainly have my undivided attention.

The drag of the opening few minutes is quickly forgiven because once we get to this stage of the film, there really is no looking back. Moving from set piece to set piece in the middle third and executing each one with such panache and intensity, Matt Reeves shows us just what can be accomplished with a decent budget and intelligent use of CGI to make found footage look spectacular and believable (much in the same way that Chronicle succeeded where others have failed).

The set piece on the Brooklyn Bridge, the whole scene from the moments before our protagonists enter the New York subway system to the point that they leave, the shot of a Central Park horse and cart walking silently through the empty streets of New York and the final gotcha moment when our survivors board a helicopter are all so brilliantly executed that even 4 years on, I haven't see much come close to matching it.

Then there's the sound. Oh lord what a rush!!! When I watched Cloverfield at the cinema I remember that it was the type of sound you felt in the gut of your stomach. On Blu ray, the experience is almost as good! During the more intense scenes (the moments before the subway, the moments just before and during the helicopter, the sounds isn't just good, its like its reaching into your belly, grabbing hold of it and pummeling it with an electric mallet!

Ultimately, what I love about Cloverfield is that, as I mentioned before, with the rare exceptions such as Chronicle, this is still the benchmark for found footage movies today. The Paranormal Activity series, End of Watch, V/H/S, Troll Hunter and [Rec] 1 and 2! have their moments, in fact some of those I've listed are down right awesome movies, but Cloverfield is still the one I always find myself comparing it to. A film that made me believe I was in the middle of a city block when a skyscraper fell down and I had to take shelter in a handily nearby convinience store. A film that made me believe I was on the Brooklyn Bridge when a monster from the sea struck out leaving me to run like hell to escape the bridge falling into the Hudson River. A film that made me believe that there are few things out there more frightening that a military captain telling me that he didn't know what it was but that "it" was winning and a film that made me believe that for 85 minutes I was watching as damn near a real home movie would look like if such an incredible event was to happen.

Ignore the "well they just wouldn't have carried on filming in that sort of a situation" brigade. Yeah, I know, like I also know Dinosaurs can't be bought back from the dead and paraded in a futuristic theme park, we aren't living in a virtual world called The Matrix, there isn't a bunch of superheros out there trying to save the world from from a deranged God called Loki and despite all the willpower in the world, the force just doesn't exist... Movies are based on the occasional suspension of reality and belief. If the characters hadn't have wanted to continue to film the events of that night, there wouldn't be a movie called Cloverfield. So for that reason alone, I'm glad they carried on filming!!! 5 stars!