Cloverfield
Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images.
reviewed by Steven Harrell
“Something has found us.” So says the baritone teaser-trailer voiceover guy. By now, most people have seen the cryptic trailer that shows a few buildings crumble and a decapitated Statue of Liberty. Maybe you even went to the cryptic website (www.1-18-08.com) that offered a few nonsense pictures you could drag around your screen. A few of the film’s characters even have their own MySpace pages. What does it all mean? In the true style of producer J.J. Abrams (“Lost,” “Alias”), you just have to wait and see and hope it’s worth the buzz.
The Story
Jason Hawkins (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend Marlena (Lizzy Caplan) have planned an elaborate going away party for Jason’s older brother Rob (Michael Stahl-David). Rob has landed a successful job in Japan and will be heading out the next day. The entire film is shown from the perspective of Hud (T.J. Miller), Jason’s and Rob’s best friend, who tells the story through a hand-held video camera he’s carrying around to document the party. Things start to go a little south, however, when Rob’s love interest Beth shows up with another guy.
Then the apartment building shakes violently, and the power gets knocked out. The party-goers all travel to the roof to survey the city only to see a few explosions in downtown Manhattan. Is it terrorists? An earthquake? Godzilla? Panic sets in, and Rob decides to head straight into the chaos to find Beth and bring her to safety. Hud and a few others follow with the camcorder. The closer they get to Beth, the more they learn about what’s really going on.
The Verdict
Even as I write this, I’m still not sure exactly how I feel about “Cloverfield.” Was it entertaining? Absolutely. For all of the runtime, which was pretty compact at just under 90 minutes, I was on the edge of my seat and completely unaware that an hour and a half had passed. Was it interesting? Definitely. Writer Drew Goddard (“Lost,” “Alias”) and first-time director Matt Reeves did a lot more than I expected with the whole camcorder angle, advancing the story by splicing in past footage that supposedly was already on the tape before Hud picked it up and started recording.
But people keep asking me, “So, tell me what happened. What’s going on in this movie?” My response has been that I still don’t really know. I know what the cause of the explosions is in the sense that I saw “it,” but I still have no idea as to how “it” got to New York City, what happened to “it” afterwards, and what “it” really is beyond a physical description.
On the other hand, that makes it sort of fun. When J.J. Abrams was pitching the flick to studios he described it as “a Cameron Crowe movie meets ‘Godzilla’ meets the ‘Blair Witch Project.’ ” As with many things Abrams, the movie is less about a monster or aliens or whatever crazy thing is going on in the external world and more about the internal goings on within the characters themselves. He wants you to believe so much in the love Rob has for Beth and the sidekick dedication of Hud that you’ll then buy into the whole monster movie angle.
In that respect the movie fails. I’d buy Rob plunging into the depths of a city in chaos to find the girl he’s always loved, but what didn’t work for me was the almost “Aw schucks, why not?” attitude of Hud and the others, one of whom barely knew anyone else. Given half a chance, any one of these people would have bailed and gotten in the first line out of the city. That disbelief made me pretty unsympathetic when bad things started happening.
Would I recommend seeing “Cloverfield”? It really depends on what you want to get out of it. If in movies you really need to have a conclusion, for the good guys to either win or lose and the sun to set and everything to wrap up nicely, then you probably should save your money. If you don’t mind a lot of ambiguity and you’re really pumped to see what “it” is (and trust me, it’s awesome to see), then I’d definitely get in line. But don’t waste 15 minutes of your life watching the end credits hoping for more ending. It’s not there.
The PG-13 rating is due to the high level of intensity generated by watching bad stuff happen and having no idea what’s causing it. There’s a bit of rough language, including several uses of Jesus’ name for swearing, and a bit of sensuality (a couple in bed after sex) toward the beginning. Monster violence (fatal and bloody) is frequent and includes one especially disturbing impalement scene.
Worldview
While your average monster/disaster movie isn’t exactly overflowing with spiritual dialogue beyond exclamations of “Oh my God!” every time something new explodes, “Cloverfield” certainly isn’t your average monster movie. Also, I’m a firm believer that someday “Lost” will conclude in a way that’s saturated with spiritual implications. That’s why I was a little disappointed in the lack of any sort of real “Meaning” in the “Cloverfield” storyline.
It does, however, present a few classic moments of cinematic worldview. At the start of the film, Jason and Hud are consoling Rob over how he handled the situation with Beth. Jason claims that Beth is way out of his league, but thinks Rob still needs to just go after her and tell her how he really feels. He says something to the effect of, “Forget everything else in the world and just hold on to the people you love.” Of course, after the city starts to go crazy, Rob takes this general relationship advice to heart in an extremely practical way.
Something that struck me was the fact that Rob didn’t start to chase Beth until he knew she was in trouble and it was possibly too late. He was told to go to her, he wanted to go to her, but he waited around until the situation was in full-blown crisis mode to actually act.
As Christians, sometimes we can also be guilty of waiting to act until it is too late. God makes it very clear throughout the Bible that we’re not guaranteed to have a second or third shot to do what’s right. James warns against “boasting about tomorrow.” “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.’ ” (James 4:13-17)
What is it that you need to do today but are putting off until tomorrow? Is it the little things, like cleaning your room or starting on that project due next month? It could also be something more major, like sharing Christ with your friends who you know aren’t Christians. Whatever it is, James concludes with a pretty strong warning. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.” Start doing the good things that God has called you to do today; don’t wait for tomorrow. Because you never know the next time something might show up that causes everything to go completely crazy. Monster!
Questions:
• Are you a fan of producer J.J. Abrams other work like “Lost” and “Alias”? Should he stick to the small screen or do you think he should do more full-length films?
• Before you saw it, what did you think “it” was? Were you right?
• Why do you think the filmmakers made it from the POV of the camcorder? Did that work for you to make it more believable or not?
• Why do you think Hud went with Rob?
• How do you think “it” came to NYC? What do you think happened afterwards?
• Is there anything that you need to do today that you’ve been putting off for a long time? How can you make sure to do it?