Cloverfield

The viral marketing campaign for this movie worked. It got me and a bunch of other people to go watch it this weekend. The posters have been everywhere, you know the one with the Statue of Liberty having her head torn off by something that's left an incredible wake and it's veering towards land. Now, I won't spoil the show, go see it and you'll be shocked by the very real thrills. It's a monster movie, not at all cheesy like the Godzilla movie that it is clearly based on. Well, scratch that, as an updated version of the original Gojira, well that I can accept. Just know that Mathew Broderick won't be mugging in this movie. You won't recognize any of the young actors in this movie, it's not really that kind of movie.

What it is, as has been described before, is a classic Monster Eats Tokyo movie but shot with a handheld camera. Ooh. Yeah, if you get motion sickness really easily, well I'd recommend 27 Dresses or somesuch. The cast is bright and telegenic, hungry you might say (I'd give a sandwich to a couple of the female leads), but not as annoying as in most twenty-something dramas. It starts off at a sending off party for the male lead, a schlubby everyman who is getting a new job in (yes, wink wink Japan), and as the relationships are set up and delineated really well I might add, the tone of the movie changes with a rumble and a roar. Cool.

I have to say, giant monster movies are my favorite genre. Godzilla, Rodan, King Kong, even Gamera the Flying Turtle for godsakes. I love King Ghidra, Mothra, and any Beast from 40,000 fathoms. I used to go to Echo Park here in Los Angeles as a kid, look into the murky water and wonder if there was some Giant Squid monster living in its man-made depths. Ok 30 feet deep but that's a lot for an 8 year old. I love the cheesy sets, the flyovers by jet planes shooting missiles, even the scene where the tiny tanks come rolling through the town with the military music in the background shooting at the monster, and only angering it. None of those scenes are in the movie. Well, they are but just not in the way you're used to seeing them.

The script is really clever in that it sets up a premise, like Blair Witch Project I guess, that the action on screen is just what's being shot by Hud: the best friend of the main character Rob. It takes place mostly in real time and the events happen "naturalistically" as you really can't use the term realistic in this sort of movie and there are some leaps in logic at times and the monster was handled very well, shot in glimpses and shadows mostly until the end, and very well realized. This is not your grandfather's rubber suit, or your dad's bad CGI.

I wasn't disappointed, it was short and succinct and apparently sets up a sequel from what I've read just now getting back home. Take that and make it what you will.

B+
- Herbie