Movie Review: Cloverfield - Page 2

From that point on, the movie is an exhaustive and generally engaging thrill ride, as we follow five people including Rob (Michael Stahl-David), his brother, Jason (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend, Lily (Jessica Lucas), Hud (who is the one holding the camera throughout most of the film), and Marlena. The story is not without a few clichés like the motivation for Rob and his friends to go towards the middle of the city to rescue Beth (Odette Yustman), a friend he had a one-time fling with but for whom he may have more serious feelings. But the film at least avoids creating any phony character development and simply shows these survivors doing what they can to reach her at the 49th floor of a high-rise apartment leaning against another skyscraper near Central Park.

One issue that has come up inevitably is whether using imagery referencing 9/11 such as the leaning skyscraper, the Empire State Building being knocked down by a monster, and the people consequently being covered with dust and crossing the Brooklyn Bridge is appropriate in a mass entertainment. After all, the movie, in a way, could be seen as the American 9/11 equivalent of the Japanese Godzilla, which was meant in the 1950s as a  social commentary on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. While the issue is debatable, I will simply say that, albeit the movie could have been just as good without it, it does add to the realism of the “what if” scenario of the city in ruins and one reason, I think, we go to the movies is to face and exorcise our fears in a more accessible way.

It is also worth noting that the realism extends all the way through to the conclusion as the story progresses as only a monstrous invasion can within the circumstances. Fair warning, besides the fact that the shaky camera movement is as quease-inducing as it can get (even for an average person, Hud does not seem to be much of a cameraman), there are a few bloody deaths that do push the boundary of the film's PG-13 rating. The fact that the film does not sugar-coat its horror material or cheapen it with unnecessary machismo or patriotic heroics makes whatever comment the story tries to imply more effective and keeps it from feeling crass and insensitive.

Article Author: moviejohn

Joo-Wang John Lee is a computer programmer at Binghamton University by day and a movie critic by hobby. Upon insistent suggestion from people around him, he finally decided to start critiquing movies in writing instead of just verbal form among his friends. …

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