On Cloverfield
Cloverfield is hailed in some reviews as a cross between Independence Day and Blair Witch, in this case Independence Day being shorthand for "monsters and destruction" and Blair Witch being shorthand for "shot entirely in the first person with a camera lacking even the bare minimum bog standard level of shake control available on any grade of retail camcorder. And lots of running."
The biggest problem about the Independence Day comparison, is that this is not really a monster and destruction movie. Oh, sure, there's monsters and destruction in it. I'll give you that. But Cloverfield is no more about the monster, than Titanic was about a ship. This is 100% a people movie, it's a one-group story where the dramatic scenario acts as nothing but situational background noise. But where Titanic arguably got away with it was, well, the background situation is real history. We know what happens. An unsinkable ship sales, it hits a giant icecube, and it sinks. Cloverfield uses a fictional world as background, and in concentrating wholey on one group's tribulations resulted, for me, in massive frustration at the smackingly enormous holes in the world and wider plot, and the characters themselves are nothing like interesting enough to make up for this.
I mean, what's WITH the monster? What's it doing there? Did it die? Who's left after the whole thing to watch that tape? I don't know, and I'm never going to know, and yes, it annoys me. What the hell kind of ending is "everybody dies"? It's a movie built around the people, and the couple you're supposed to be giving a shit about struggle on through adversity until being blown to smithereens by their own military. Between that and the completely 'whu?' nature of the monster and the backstory (or complete lack thereof), Cloverfield is a supremely emotionally unsatisfying movie.
In short? I really, really wish I hadn't bothered. Unless you're really fond of motion sickness, I don't recommend you do either.
The biggest problem about the Independence Day comparison, is that this is not really a monster and destruction movie. Oh, sure, there's monsters and destruction in it. I'll give you that. But Cloverfield is no more about the monster, than Titanic was about a ship. This is 100% a people movie, it's a one-group story where the dramatic scenario acts as nothing but situational background noise. But where Titanic arguably got away with it was, well, the background situation is real history. We know what happens. An unsinkable ship sales, it hits a giant icecube, and it sinks. Cloverfield uses a fictional world as background, and in concentrating wholey on one group's tribulations resulted, for me, in massive frustration at the smackingly enormous holes in the world and wider plot, and the characters themselves are nothing like interesting enough to make up for this.
I mean, what's WITH the monster? What's it doing there? Did it die? Who's left after the whole thing to watch that tape? I don't know, and I'm never going to know, and yes, it annoys me. What the hell kind of ending is "everybody dies"? It's a movie built around the people, and the couple you're supposed to be giving a shit about struggle on through adversity until being blown to smithereens by their own military. Between that and the completely 'whu?' nature of the monster and the backstory (or complete lack thereof), Cloverfield is a supremely emotionally unsatisfying movie.
In short? I really, really wish I hadn't bothered. Unless you're really fond of motion sickness, I don't recommend you do either.