Cloverfield Sublime

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2008)

Cloverfield does exactly what I hoped it would do, and that is focusing on character development and keeping the frame of reference centered around them. Abrams appreciates a good monster flick, and he nods to those films, certainly. However, the PoV is what did it for me, because there wasn't the typical Hollywood brouhaha that answers every questions and sees everythingthere was no bottle feeding the audience, handing them all the details, because who actually wants to THINK when they go to the movies? The characters were scared and confused, and thus, so was I. Cloverfield, like the pilot episode of TV's Lost, places us right in the middle of conflict and then the pace keeps moving. What seemed to make the audience angry at my showing (other than the crazy camera movements) was when the PoV ended, so did the film. For me, that was wonderful. There was no Hollywood closure, and that allows me to make assumptions, keep questioning and thinking. Although, the last scene of the film, the video from Coney Island, did show a falling object in the upper right corner, this was approximately one month before the attack. I assume that the falling object was the creature hurling into the ocean, but then again, I can only make assumptions (and that's what I love about Abrams' approach--put audiences in the middle of an experience and don't give them time to question it). I absolutely adore this film.