Cloverfield(2008)- Movie Review

Hello there everyone.  Hopefully someone decides to take a chance on my blog soon.  Untill then, I am truly enjoying these movie reviews.  I am going to fine tune my presentation.  It may differ from film to film.  But, such is life.  At the moment,  I would like to discuss 2008’s Cloverfield.  I have been on a sci-fi, horror, monster kick all weekend. 

So….Cloverfield. 

The Basic Premise.
Large, Godzilla-like monster attacks New York City.  We get a backrow seat to the event via the video camera of a group of friends who are in the middle of a Congrats/Going Away party when the catastrophe hits.  We follow our heros as they attempt to save Beth, the main man’s love interest, from the worst possible location, right at the center of the madness. 

My Basic Reaction.
For the first time ever, submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I introduce you to the William Christopher Neville coding system.  I will explain it further in a future post, but for now a movie can earn, at best, 4 diamonds.  So a perfect score would look like this- <><><><>- a.k.a. 4 diamonds.  So, what do I give Cloverfield?,  you may ask.  Cloverfield earns a <><>.  I am not loving this movie.  Read on for my explaination.

The Basic Problems. (to name just a few)
—I will break my complaints up into 3 main headings.

Hell No, I Am Getting the Fuck Out of Here.
These are the words that Marlena, Lily, and Hud should have spoken to Brian when he decided to take all of their fates into his hands and lead them into the heart of darkness.  Now the film does make a point to imply that each character makes the active decision to go back in search of Beth.  I get that.  But, is this supposed to make me like these characters more?  Am I supposed to think, gee, what great people.  No. I think unrealistic and stupid.  I guess I am supposed to look past the facts that they had NO IDEA what type of monster was awaiting them in the city, or where they were even headed, or whether or not Beth was even going to be alive if they could get to her.  Freaking idiots.  I could look past all this crap, if the movie was going to provide us with a moral lesson.  Oh hell, how about  some characters we can like and connect to.  Or maybe some excellent dialogue.  But alas.

Go Monster!!!
I really wanted these people to die.  My favorite character was the monster.  At least he had some self respect and balls.  He was just trying to do his thing to survive.  He wasn’t walking around making all of his decisions based on flighty crushes.  Pick which crush is more annoying.  Rob’s for Beth.  Or Hud’s for Marlena.  I liked Marlena, I did.  She was my second favorite character, after Big M (the monster), of course.  But was I supposed to sympathize with Hud?  A twenty something loser who, in the first 10 minutes of us knowing him; shows no regard for his best friend’s feelings by blabbing personal information around a party to strangers, doesnt take his job as party documenter seriously at all, and relentlessly, and poorly I might add, harasses Marlena with pathetic and dumb pickup attempts.  Are we supposed to root for Hud?  Still, Brian upsets me the most.  He is not a hero.  Grow a pair man, and take a few minutes to focus on the fact that your freaking brother was just killed. 

A Monster as a backdrop for Love.
At first glance, a viewer may think they are instore for a horror film, but really the monster and destruction are just background noise while we get to watch yet ANOTHER film about two lovers finding each other. Here we go again.  I’m sorry, and please let me know if you disagree.  But is anyone else getting tired of being force fed this heterosexual romantic bullshit?  I use the word ‘heterosexul’ since this is a man and a woman’s relationship at the center of this “tragedy”.  I rented this to see a horror movie.  I don’t freaking care if Rob and Beth are soul mates or not.  Hear me Hollywood?  I DON’T FREAKING CARE.  A horror movie can be just as satisfying and entertaining with only flying limbs and spurting blood to move our hearts.

The Only good thing.
I give this movie 2 stars for (a) the original retelling of an old idea (Godzilla) and (b) for the fantastic job done by the editors of this film.  They are the ones that gave this film any life at all.  They brought forth the humanity from this elementary effort.  The quick glimpses at the previously recorded happy life of Rob and Beth are handled masterfully.  Plus I enjoy how they slowly showed the monster to us.  They kept us guessing and even make the jerky camera shots standable for an hour and a half.  My hats off to them.

Bottom Line:
Not one of my favs.  But I will give the filmmakers credit for attempting a unique and difficult to accomplish task.  But I recommend skipping this rental and just hearing about it from people who were stupid enough to watch it (i.e. me).  That’s probably a better alternative than witnessing it through Hud’s eyes anyway.       Will

Introducing Me and Discussing ‘I Am Legend’

Hello to Everyone out there in Blog world!  I am happy to join you in this WordPress world of Cyberspace Discussion.  I am totally new to blogging.  With this being my first post I have no idea what to begin discussing.  I want to use this as a means to connect with others.  So, for this first post I am going to try connecting with people through one of my greatest loves: movies.  But I would also like to introduce myself.
My name is Will.  I am 26 years old and I live in the lovely state of Pennsylvania.  I’m single and a full-time student of web design/ programming, etc.  I already have an English B.A., which has not gotten me a sufficient job thus far.  I’m sure there are other people out there who can relate to this situation. 

So, on to I Am Legend.  Who else has seen this movie?  I recently rented it through Netflix.  I admit I have yet to see its predecessors; ‘The Last Man on Earth’ and ‘The Omega Man’.  So, I cannot compare the film to either of those, but to throw my two cents into the mix.  I really enjoyed this film.  I will attempt to break this discussion into the main things that affected me about the film.  How does that sound?

The Concept of being all Alone.
Maybe it’s just me, but I could really relate to Robert Neville (our hero)’s situation in this film.  I know what you are thinking.  No, I have never been the sole survivor in New York City left with the burden of finding a cure to a measles derived virus that has transformed thousands of people into bloodthirsty, pigment impared freaks.  The beauty is, we don’t have to have been in order to understand the feeling of standing alone in a video store, renting a film to watch alone, and wishing that someone, anyone, would care enough to talk to us.  What a fantastic scene.  So, what if everyone else disappeared tommorrow?  The film made me really think about this.  Lord knows I want everyone else to go away when I am late for work and people are driving as slow as hell in front of me.  But to be totally alone.  Add to that the realization that Robert isn’t actually totally alone.  There are people out there, but he can’t connect with them becaue of what they have become.  It feels like that for all of us sometimes, doesn’t it?  Good writing.

Sam the Dog.
I admit I love dogs.  But sometimes, if handled poorly, they can be an annoying add-on to a film.  Sam, the german shepherd in this film, was in NO WAY a pain to watch.  The trainers and writers utilized her to the highest degree, and her presence was MORE than necessary for the plot.  I don’t want to provide any plot spoilers, but I really went through a wide range of emotions for Sam’s character.  Plus, I appreciate the filmmakers’ nod to humanity’s love affair with pets.  So what if Sam couldn’t talk in words to Robert, look into those big brown eyes.  They say everything they need to say.  Any pet owner knows of what I speak. 

Will Smith as Robert Neville.
I like Will Smith.  There I said it.  I’ve liked him since ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’  But he has really stretched his wings as an actor.  For me, this film was all about his facial expressions.  We already knew he could do comedy, but now we know he can tug at our emotions with a single look.  When he steps away from the helicopter and gives that long stare at his wife and daughter.  No words are exchanged, but you can see how torn and tortured he is with tears in his eyes and a shrug of his shoulders that says, ‘I don’t know why I am crying’ to his wife.  Two thumbs up.  This movie made me want to jump through the screen and give him a hug and let he know it could all be ok.  Hell, it made me long for someone to hug me and let me know it was all gonna be ok.

Questions the film raises for me.
Did we bring this on ourselves?  In ‘I Am Legend’, did humanity get what it deserved?  A cure for cancer sounds like a very noble pursuit.  But should we be leaving such things, as well as the decision for who lives and who dies, up to whatever higher power we believe in?  Did the film raise these types of questions for anyone else?
 
Has anyone out there read the book?  Should I check it out?  I really enjoy comparing film versions to the books they were based on.  I’m not sure how closely this Will Smith version follows the original concept.  I welcome any opinions. 

So, how was my first post?  Please, let me know how you felt about this film.  I welcome any thoughts.  Your thoughts will make what I take away from the film that much more satisfactory.  I’m glad to be on WordPress.  Let’s become friends.

                                                   Will