My name is KJS.
Approximately 72 hours ago, 3 lads went to watch Cloverfield. If you're reading this, you probably know less about it than we do - It was awesome.
*This review contains spoilers*
Having waited for what seemed like years for this film to hit the UK, and read all of the mysterious online marketing, myself, ATO's Banxy and Neji headed to the local cinema on opening night to catch what was sure to be an epic movie.
If you've been buried in sand for the last 6 months, the gist of the film is as follows; A party is taking place in New York for the departing Rob Hawkins on the night that a huge monster attacks the city. The night is caught on amateur film by the camera that was being used to film the aformentioned party. The government find the film in the wreckage of Central Park and the footage is released as government property under the codename "Cloverfield".
Slow to start, the film opens with scenes at the leaving party, which cleverly endears us to the characters who we know are about to endure a horrific experience. Rob, Hud, Marlena, Lily, Jason and Beth are the main characters. The party scenes do seem tedious, but they serve a purpose and make the inevitable action all the more enjoyable once it finally gets underway.
The start of things to come |
A tremor is felt and the party-goers head to the roof to check it out, only to see an enormous explosion in the distance, which sends fireballs their way. This leads to them spilling out on to the streets, where they join hundreds of other worried citizens. Speculation mounts about the cause of the strange occurrences - earthquake, terrorist attack? It turns out to be worse than either of those.
All of a sudden, a large object comes hurtling towards them in a scene which will surely become synonymous
with this film for years to come. It is the head of Lady Liberty and it lands only yards from where they are standing. Panic ensues. What on Earth could have done this?
Lady Liberty's demise |
An early glimpse of the monster |
All of a sudden, some of the people on the street catch a glimpse of something passing behind a distant skyscraper - something as big as the building itself. Further panic ensues as the people who saw it wonder if they were seeing things. Reality hits home when the skyscraper in question begins to crumble, and a huge cloud of dust - reminiscent of 9/11 - comes hurtling towards the crowd, causing them all to retreat into nearby buildings - assuming they made it into them.
As Rob and company continue to film inside the shop they have ran into, what seem to be gigantic footsteps can be heard, causing the ground to rumble
and Hud (the night's camera man) claims that "he saw it" and "it was alive". |
The Shop window explodes |
As the
dust clears, everyone heads back to the street where they find a wreckage and a dust-covered Marlena, who saw everything that most people didn't see and appears to be in a state of severe shock. She claims that "it" was "eating everyone" as the survivors begin to make their way out of New York in sheer panic.
Televisions in electronics stores can be seen broadcasting news of the events, and it is noted that small "objects" appear to be falling off the large beast, while looters exploit the night's events by grabbing whatever they can from such stores.
Rob, Marlena and Lily see something they don't like the look of |
At this point you are already 100% immersed in the night and wondering if the rumours of the shaky camera making people vomit are true.
The next scene is a memorable one, as the cast make their way over the Brooklyn Bridge, which promptly comes under attack from the monster. A fierce sweep of an enormous tail takes the bridge down - and some people with it. There are casualties. It should also be noted that Hud catches other people filming on camera, which could (perhaps) signify potential for the release of more footage from the fated night.
It is more than just a monster movie - it is kind of a love story. Rob had an argument at his party with Beth, the girl he loved, and she left early - the last thing Rob said to her being an insult - and after the aforementioned experience, Rob sets out to find her
as she was heard over the phone to be in a state of distress. Along with Hud, Marlena and Lily - Rob goes against the advice of the military, who are evacuating New York, and heads into the centre of the city to find Beth.
They pass the monster on a couple of occasions, which turns out to be bigger than the viewer could possibly have anticipated from the glimpses previously seen, and head underground - hoping to follow the subway tracks to get to Beth's apartment.
Whilst underground, figuring out what to do while coming to terms with the deaths of friends and the enormity of the situation, Hud provides the comedic relief - as he does for alot of the film - with snappy, inappropriate comments (the "flaming homeless man" comment had us in stitches).
Suddenly, an army of rats bypasses the protagonists as they wander through the previously lifeless tunnels, leading Rob to believe that they were running from something. Sure enough, they were, as the smaller "objects" that were said to be falling from the monster emerge as dog-sized, parasitic, crab-like, arachnid freaks (Think "Alien" or "Half-Life"). These horrible creatures attack the group, resulting in some minor scrapes, and a rather more serious looking wound - coming from a bite - on Marlena's torso.
The group make their escape and find a room to tend to Marlena's wounds, before continuing their journey.
They stumble upon a makeshift military/medical facility which has been equipped due to the night's events to deal with casualties and in particular, as we soon find out, people who have been bitten like Marlena.
A corpse is wheeled away with massive, bloody cavity where its torso used to be.
Marlena claims she feels unwell and, soon after, she looks terrible - with blood coming from, among other places, her eyes. What happens to her can only be described as horrific, but suffice to say she is taken behind a screen by people in full-body protective clothing.
Marlena is taken behind a screen - Yuck! |
After the shock of Marlena's demise, a soldier informs the group that the military are persisting with their barrage on the monster with bombs and firearms, but it still appears to be unaffected and is, as such, "winning". He also informs them that helicopters are evacuating citizens at a particular spot, but the last evacuation will be at a specific time and if they don't arrive at the choppers by that time they will simply be left behind. He also tells them that if nothing puts the monster down soon, after the last evacuation "operation hammerdown" will be carried out, which sounds like it will wipe out the whole city and - hopefully - the monster with it. Whether or not this method is a nuclear bomb of some kind is not categorically stated.
Rob and pals finally arrive at Beth's apartment building which, unfortunately, appears to have been knocked over, and is leaning against the large apartment building next to it, looking rather fragile.
The group decide that they will make their way to the top of the building next to it and try to get across to Beth from there, as it is touching her building.
They successfully find her but she is impaled on something and has passed out. They manage to revive her and painfully remove her from her predicament. From the high point of Beth's apartment we further see the monster on its destructive path, under attack from the military.
The remaining members of the group make it to the helicopter pick up point and Lily gets into a chopper, with Rob, Beth and Hud being told to wait for the next one. While they are waiting, we get our best view of the monster yet as it crushes a tank with one of its feet and continues its relentless assault on the city.
The trio get into the next helicopter and Hud expresses his disbelief at the events that have unfolded, whilst Rob and Beth hold each other tightly. They fly directly above the monster, and we get another awesome view of it, as fighter jets carpet bomb it with a barrage of bombs and it goes down. Hud can't contain his excitement as he thinks the monster is dead but, to his surprise, not only is it alive but it jumps the (seemingly) thousands of feet into the air to bring the chopper down and it subsequently crash lands with the trio inside.
Filming resumes as the trio wake up after the crash in Central Park, where bombing can be heard, but all seems to be peaceful considering. That is until, out of absolutely nowhere, the monster appears directly above Hud. Hud films it as its attention seems to be on the military but, all of a sudden, it notices Hud and the inevitable ensues.
The monster towers above Hud |
Rob, distraught, gets the camera as he and Beth run under a Central Park bridge to take cover and they address the camera, giving their names and details of events, seemingly accepting their fate, as they hear speaker systems suggesting that "operation hammerdown" is about to occur. Rob and Beth tell each other they love each other as a massive explosion occurs, covering the camera in debris as the film comes to an end.
It is unknown whether or not they survived and the same can be said for the monster.
The final scene on the tape is of Rob and Beth enjoying a day out in Coney Island
a couple of months prior to the attack (a day that often appeared at intervals throughout the film in between scenes), with Beth ironically expressing what a great day she'd had. It should also be noted that, in the background of this final scene on the ferris wheel, something can be seen falling into the water behind them - maybe it was the thing that woke the monster from its deep-water sleep?
Overall, this film exceeded my expectations entirely. The acting was, despite what I had heard, highly convincing and brilliant, the CGI was flawless, the monster was better than I had hoped and, for such a low budget (relative to other films these days), it was extremely well put-together. It was more than just the "Blair Witch meets Godzilla" that some people expected - it was different.
Not remotely relevant - Yet |
It is also very thought provoking. What the hell would the world do in this situation?
The only minor niggle I can think of is that, despite it occurring en masse for several months, none of the online marketing and clues seemed relevant. We never actually find out what the monster is, or its true origins. The only "Slusho" reference was a T-Shirt worn by Rob's brother, Jason, early in the film. However, I take heart from the fact that the online stuff was probably just a sneaky way of diverting our attention to make sure we didn't find out what the monster was before the film's release. And I'm sure that we will find out more in the future. |
All those people who "knew" about the monster and the plot months in advance must feel a tad silly. It wasn't Godzilla, it wasn't Voltron, it wasn't Power Rangers, it wasn't Rampage and nor was it this...
So it was merely Fan Art |
Now that I know "how it all went down", I give this film full marks and a place among my favourite films of all time.
Brilliant.
