Great sound design...um, that's it, I guess.

Rating: 5/10 (22 January 2008)

This video (yes, I meant that) may be comfortably viewed on, say, my 7" portable DVD player. Perhaps even as large as my 20" bedroom TV. Certainly not the big ol' DLP in the living room. And under no circumstances should this picture be viewed on THE SILVER SCREEN.
Clearly taking a cue from any and all video footage from 9-11, this is a movie about running. Not in the "Run Lola Run" Steadicam/Shotmaker Truck kind of way, oh no. This movie is about running in the same way as giving the video camera to your four year-old. There is more footage of the Lower Manhattan asphalt here than anything else. There was a warning printed on Salmon-colored paper at the theater where I viewed this explaining to me I might suffer motion sickness as result of seeing "Cloverfield." It should have said "will suffer motion sickness." When it ended, I swear I've never before heard more people groan wearily as they stood up.
The one genuinely redeeming element of seeing "Cloverfield" in the theater was the brilliant sound design. That is what holds everything together and makes it remotely enjoyable. While somewhat unrealistic, being that no handy-cam microphone could record (to say nothing of playing back) such rich audio, it is still very compelling and engrossing to listen to what the visuals cannot convey. There are a lot of these moments. Particularly, there is a moment in the subway tunnels when the characters are being stalked by creatures unseen, only to reveal them in an admittedly clever use of the infrared gimmick.
This was a really hard video to watch. I had to take full minutes away from the screen to focus on the theater's EXIT sign in order to prevent heaving up my popcorn. Entire running sequences are lost to me as I stared at the hairdo sitting in front of me. At least in the beginning, I could watch the on-screen time and date, which held perfectly still. That ended up disappearing about fifteen minutes in. Michael Bonvillain, ASC, I salute you. You truly kicked my butt. I hope someone gets you a geared head on a J.L. Fisher dolly next Christmas.