Penguin RushCloverfield - of life and death..
When the movie ‘Blair Witch Project’ hit the big screen almost 10 years back, it made headlines and created a lot of buzz, especially among the Netizens (those who frequent the World Wide Web). Long before the movie was released, the movie makers aroused people’s interests due to the whole movie was documentary-like, i.e. shots made by some ‘student filmmakers’ who were investigating the eponymous local legend, the Blair Witch. In other words, people got to view the horror that the characters experienced after getting lost deep in the woods, through the lenses of video cameras taken by them. Back then, some viewers were naïve enough (if not foolish) to think that it was a true story and those characters did actually get murdered.
It was said that the movie’s documentary –style was inspired by the opening scene of another hit horror movie, (the original version of) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM). Another unique feature of the Blair Witch movie was that its cost of production was so low, the profit that the movie had reaped could be considered staggering.
If TCM inspired the makers of the Blair Witch movie, the latter had inspired the making of another movie, released this year. The year 2008 opened with a bang, not from the firecrackers that lit up the skies during New Year celebrations, but from the roar of a new monster movie - Cloverfield. Talk about a monster movie, surely one would suspect, it must be influenced by another monster movie. True enough. Well, let’s just say, combine Blair Witch and errrr, sadly to say, Godzilla, plus a little bit of Alien, a reminiscent of the 9/11 tragedy and the movie Escape from New York (which inspired the Liberty head scene), Cloverfield was born. Then, as Manal had commented (see the comment section), it was probably inspired by those live recordings (as recorded by human activists) on the horrors of the Israeli regimes tormenting the palestinian kids too (although I doubt this was the source of inspiration).
It was said that the movie’s documentary –style was inspired by the opening scene of another hit horror movie, (the original version of) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM). Another unique feature of the Blair Witch movie was that its cost of production was so low, the profit that the movie had reaped could be considered staggering.
If TCM inspired the makers of the Blair Witch movie, the latter had inspired the making of another movie, released this year. The year 2008 opened with a bang, not from the firecrackers that lit up the skies during New Year celebrations, but from the roar of a new monster movie - Cloverfield. Talk about a monster movie, surely one would suspect, it must be influenced by another monster movie. True enough. Well, let’s just say, combine Blair Witch and errrr, sadly to say, Godzilla, plus a little bit of Alien, a reminiscent of the 9/11 tragedy and the movie Escape from New York (which inspired the Liberty head scene), Cloverfield was born. Then, as Manal had commented (see the comment section), it was probably inspired by those live recordings (as recorded by human activists) on the horrors of the Israeli regimes tormenting the palestinian kids too (although I doubt this was the source of inspiration).
If you were not a fan of either the Blair Witch or Godzilla, don’t be put off to watch Cloverfield. This is one good example of how one can use ideas that have been used before, but still end up with something that is somewhat original, impressive and awesome.
(A word of caution: continue reading this at your own risk - spoilers ahead!) Through the lens of a video camera recorded by a character, Cloverfield shows you the mayhem that ensues when a monster attacks the city of New York. Hear the horrific sounds that the monster and its children make (yes, you read that right, this particular monster brings along it vicious little children to terrorise us humans). Despite no music score whatsoever, with the help of Dolby Surround sound, the shriek of the monster(s) is menacing enough, the blasts of the guns and bombs are shattering to the ears and the screams of the people feel very close to you.
In Cloverfield, unlike most other monster and disaster movies, you don’t get to see hi-tech gadgets and weaponry, nor any heroic characters trying to save the world. In Cloverfield, everyone is pretty much trying to save themselves. You won’t hear people throwing comments and theories over the origin of the monsters, or ways to kill them. In Cloverfield, you pretty much hear comments made by the person behind the camera most of the time, and comments made by those around him.
Putting the monsters aside, Cloverfield centers around five young people – two brothers, Robert and Jason Hawkins, Lily (Jason’s girlfriend), Hud (a close friend to the brothers), Beth (Robert’s close friend cum soul-mate?) and Marlena (Hud has a crush on her). The movie starred Mike Vogel as Jason (he is said to be Hollywood’s next action hero who appeared in the remakes of Poseidon and TCM before); Michael Stahl-David as Robert (best known for his role in TV series, The Donnellys), Jessica Lucas as Lily (starred in She’s The Man), Lizzy Caplan as Marlena (known for her role in Mean Girls) and the rest are relatively newcomers.
Back to the movie - Robert and Beth were long-time buddies. Jason got his job promotion and would be transferred to Japan. What a perfect timing for romance to spark between the two and for them to cross over from friendship to relationship. But when Robert’s brother and friends threw a surprised farewell party for him, Beth showed up with a date. They both ended up having a fight and Robert threw some sarcastic words just before Beth left the party.
During the party, Hud was appointed by Jason to record goodbye wishes from those who attended the party. Reluctant at first, Hud was tricked into doing the job after hearing Marlena would be there that night. From that point henceforth, Hud would be the man behind the camera, recording the events that followed.
The first tremor was felt while Robert was discussing his Beth issue with Jason and Hud. A few blocks went dark for a few minutes after electricity was cut off. A news broadcast suggested an earthquake, and reported an oil ship had toppled over near the Statue of Liberty. Since Robert’s apartment was close to the Statue, they thought of getting a better view from up the roof.
While up on the roof, they heard a few sirens had went off. Tensions flare. At that point of time, Hud brought up the same thing I had in mind. What a spot on! He said something like this to Robert, “You wished you had left sooner, didn't you, Robert?”
What was great about the movie is that as Hud’s camera moves about, we feel the movie is taking us along for the ride. We feel like the attack is real enough and the monsters (especially the ‘mother’) are actually right in front of us. We feel the adrenalin rushes through our veins, as the characters run for their lives; how loud and scary it would be to be caught in the middle of combat as the armies try to shoot down the monster; and how shocking it must be to witness the Liberty head being thrown off or the bridge ripped apart or the slanting apartment building, lying precipitously against another building or the giant monster, crawling its way through the city.
Some memorable scenes would be the first giant explosion with debris hitting the nearby buildings, the Liberty head rolling along the street, the attack at the Brooklyn bridge, the first close up view of the giant monster caught by Hud’s camera and the final REALLY close up view of the giant monster caught by Hud’s camera.
The movie brilliantly shows the first glimpses of the monster (and its children) via news broadcast over the TV, as air and ground news cameramen caught shots of them. I too found myself peeking, hoping the TV news would do justice in showing how the monster looked like.
The movie had a few scenes that evoked emotion of sadness. Like the scenes when the monster attacked right above Jason’s head, when Robert relayed the news about his brother’s death to his mother and the final death scenes.
As I mentioned earlier, due to the ‘nature’ of the movie, the movie feels real. As a result, the conversation among the characters doesn’t sound scripted and the acting looks natural. If this were real life and you were one of them (character-wise), who would you be? I think I’m more like the Hud character – speaking my mind that irritates people (like the scene in the tunnel when Hud remembers the story about the homeless being torched to death – not the kind of story you wanna hear while walking through a dark tunnel, would you?), easily manipulated and used by other people (Hud was tricked into recording the party, remember?) and still wanting to record despite people telling me not to.
With regard to the latter, a friend commented the movie is illogical since Hud still wants to continue recording despite the life and death situations. But then, as Hud had put it, “People are gonna wanna know you know, how it all went down.” After all, if we don’t put logic outside the door, many movies (if not all) would not have been created in the first place.
But I do want to comment on one particular scene though, i.e. after Jason was killed. It would have been perfect if Hud doesn’t focus right on the faces of his friends, especially Robert’s. I mean, Hud is not some heartless news cameraman whose only interest is to capture people’s expression during times of sorrow and broadcast that for the whole world to see. Hud too is a close friend to all of them, especially Jason and Robert. It would have been perfect if Hud just drops the camera and tries to comfort his friends but at the same time, despite lying on the pathway, somehow, the video camera still manages to record them (since this is quite an important scene and I think Stahl-David’s credibility as an actor is tested here). Also, the part where the soldiers agree to allow Robert to rescue Beth is very Hollywood-like.
Despite its flaws here and there, Cloverfield is still a splendid monster movie to start off the year and is one of the best. Buy a ticket or two, join the ride – you won’t regret it!
P/S: Just a reminder to my fellow Muslims, if you do want to watch this movie or any movie for that matter, let’s not forget our duty for Allah, shall we (you know what I mean)...
Labels: Creativity, Life, Movie Reviews, Movies, Of....and....
posted by The Pisces Man @ 12:55 am
6 Comments:
Did u watch the movie alone in the cinema or with ur wife? who's looking after ikhwan then?
Thanks for the movie review. U forgot to add: it was also prolly inspired by those human activists shooting live scenes on the horrors of the israeli regimes tormenting those palestinian kids. Those activists were later found dead. Kisah benar taww!
Well, it was a cuti2x Malaysia with my wife. Since it was a working day, so it's at baby sitter's house as usual for Ikhwan. The only difference is that, he doesn't have stay there the whole day that day.
I'm not sure which particular photos u r referring to, but I saw a few. There was one where the Isreaeli soldiers blocking Palestinian kids from entering school. Apparently some of them beaten (since they are bloodied), and the boys reprimanded (these children are barely 10 years old I think). If it's true those activists are dead, presumably killed by those 'devils', hopefully their photos live on forever, as proofs over the 'devils' brutalities.
I saw Cloverfield. Hhmm.. oklah cerita dia. Much BETTER than Blair Witch Project. I hate that movie. I don't know why. The thing I like about Cloverfield is that I didn't feel that time was actually tick-tocking at its normal rate. Coz suddenly the movie was finished.
Oh, and I don't like the part towards the ending. The mouthing of 'I love you' of both Jason and Beth is funny. So dramatic. So Shakespeare. But, I do like the fact that the movie ended with both Jason and Beth still alive, and Beth telling the camera that it was a good day.
Ija, I think the reason the film-makers wanted to do Cloverfield, Blair Witch style is bcoz the movie makers concentrated on some characters only. If it had been filmed the usual way, many movie goers would not be pleased with the fact that only certain characters are involved and not enough screen times of the monster.
In my opinion, this movie is special in its own way. It was made that way for good reasons..:-))
hey dude, just got a chance to have a peek at ur blog. Cloverfield SUCKED BIG TIME. Period. Wasted my money, time, parking and petrol...errkk actually i got a free lift.
It should just be on youtube!
Anon, hang apa hai...? :-)
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