Life > February 7, 2008

By Peter Youngblood | Staff writer

I can’t think of any other city that has suffered as many fictional catastrophes as New York — so many, in fact, that disaster-movies have become cliché. Seriously, how many times can you wreck the Statue of Liberty and still evoke the same level of awe and terror?

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Well as Cloverfield demonstrates you can do it at least one more time.

The hyped film, produced by Lost and Alias creator J.J. Abrams, has been under speculation since the first cryptic teaser came out last summer.

Despite numerous wild theories, the film turns out to be a handheld “mockumentary” version of a monster-movie, similar in form to The Blair Witch Project, all shot on a handheld camera.

We first see Rob’s (Michael Stahl-David, The Black Donnellys) farewell party on the eve before he leaves for Japan (a nod to Godzilla).

Rob had just broken up with his best friend-turned-girlfriend Beth (Odette Yustman) a few weeks before and the camera catches snippets of the lingering drama.

Ironically, the party footage is being mistakenly filmed over earlier scenes of Beth and Rob’s first little tryst.

We are able to see at strategic moments cleverly toying with the camcorder’s technical conventions while establishing a history of their relationship.

It isn’t long before all heck breaks loose as some giant, anonymous creature arrives and starts wrecking the place, starting out by playing ball with good-ole Liberty’s head.

Unfortunately Beth left the party and is now trapped in her midtown apartment, so Rob decides he has to go and get her.

Dragged alongside are his friends Marlena (Lizzy Caplan, Mean Girls), Lily (Jessica Lucas, The Covenant), and the cameraman/comic relief Hud (T.J. Miller). What follows is a hodgepodge of scenes which play with the conventions of both a disaster film and horror film, the fear-effect intensified by the smaller spider-like friends that the beast has brought with it.

Now had Cloverfield been made conventionally, it would have simply been a mediocre monster-movie. The characters, despite the director’s best efforts, are shallow and remarkably stupid and the dialogue sometimes seems as if 5th grader wrote it.

Hud, though he displays some charm and humor, delivers some pretty bad one-liners. At the same time the poor script seems appropriate given the film’s emphasis on realism (I doubt I would be very witty if some giant frog was chasing me).

Yet, Cloverfield is a paradox. By necessity it is in 1st person perspective and so the audience is ultimately bound to their experience.

However, because of its documentary style director Matt Reeves is hard-pressed to establish any sort of character development or background.

Thus, it is difficult to sympathize with any of the characters, even Rob and Beth whose relationship is the crux of the story.

Thankfully it is this same documentary style that saves Cloverfield from B-movie obscurity. The camcorder intensifies the horror-film effect by only giving you short and unclear glimpses of the beast and its buddies.

However when you do see the monster, the special effects are beautifully rendered. As with any good horror-film, what you can’t see is the scariest part. Also, the camcorder’s technical nuances are cleverly toyed with.

Aside from the sporadic past footage of Rob and Beth that pops up at key, emotional moments, the camera’s night-shot and auto-focus help intensify the suspense at various moments.

At the same time the jittery effect can be nauseating and unbearable despite momentary pauses. Think the Bourne sequels times ten.

Thankfully the short film ends before motion sickness occurs.

Nonetheless pregnant mothers and senior citizens should not go on this ride.

Cloverfield is by no means revolutionary. It is a unique film which stands up there with other recent works like the Korean The Host and helps revive an aging genre.

It is short, sweet and will keep you on the edge of your seat.