USA's Godzilla

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2008)

I personally did not think I would relate with the characters or feel immersed in their situation or stories, but I did. The dialog was incredibly off the cuff and realistic, the relationships very easy to relate to right down to the love interest with Beth. Perhaps at that age many of us were in love with a girl like Beth who got away. But I digress.
I thought this movie was incredible, and hopefully it will have a sequel but of course the sequel would not use the same hand cam reality format, but rather a straight sequel to continue the story. It would not make sense to make another film using the same techniques, but a sequel would definitely help to bring out more of the story and answer questions people will have about what they witnessed in Cloverfield.
The way i saw it, it was perfectly designed, but there will have to be a sequel, in which case the film will be very different, obviously no hand cam, but it was set up to be a very personal video the kind that so many kids are into right now, its what drives myspace, and youtube, etc... its really what this generation is all about, talking about our lives with video, and thats why Abrams did it. To reach out to that audience who could relate.
Hud was the voice that carried us through the movie, but like Dante's Virgil he can only take us to the gates of Hell, and now that our characters are there, so our guide has left us alone, but the monster is still with us.
Perhaps Cloverfield is Hollywood's response to Japan's Godzilla, and if so... we can expect to see more films to follow up and expand on the story. After all it worked for Godzilla, but Godzilla was a very charismatic monster, and only time will tell if our new monster has the staying power of a Godzilla.
The problem some are having with the camera surviving the way it did, through all that destruction, is a cautionary tale. That we have made some amazing advances in technology. We can make hand cams that can survive the apocalypse in a word, but we cannot save ourselves. Perhaps it shows a deeper understanding that we are off our path, that we have lost sight of what really matters, and what it really means to be human.
I look forward to seeing a sequel and hope one will be forthcoming, the monster looked pretty sweet especially near the end.
J.J. Abrams is the master of symbolism, as lovers of the series "LOST" will agree, and I knew this movie would not be any different. So I took special care to notice every detail and consider the importance. For those who couldn't care less, you can stop reading now
I honestly find no fault with this film. Though it really has to have a sequel, it just HAS to.
So, what were some of the symbols that stood out to me? Cloverfield is perhaps our symbol of terrorism in a post 9/11 world just as "In part, Godzilla is a symbol of the atomic bomb and the tragedy that befell Japan in the final days of the war. But in part Godzilla is a symbol of Japan's future, and its reconstruction into a newly technologized power following the war," said Allison, chairman of Duke's cultural anthropology department.
The first big one was Sephora, the name on the first building they stop at after the bridge collapse.
Sephora written on a wall with black lines.
Sephora in Hebrew means bird, and Sephira is singular for the spheres of the tree of life in the kabbalah, and the black line in the tree of life represents the tail end of the abyss, or the dark night of the soul.
So you have the bridge, and abyss between the two realms of existence. The bridge has been destroyed, there is no escape, no exit as shown by the sign in the subway we focus on quite clearly. The time is 3:16AM, biblical reference John 3:16.
JJ Abrams loves detail and references like this, anyone who watches LOST will attest to that.
The first three Sephiroth, called the Supernal Sephiroth, are considered to be the primordial energies of the universe. The next stages of evolution on the Tree of Life are considered to exist beyond a space on the tree, between the Supernals and the other Sephiroth, called the Abyss, because their levels of being are so distinct from each other that they appear to exist in two totally different realities. The Supernal Sephiroth exist on a plane of divine energy. This is why another correspondence for Binah is the idea of suffering, because the Supernal Maternal energy gives birth to a world that is inherently excluded from that Divine Union.
The Tree of Life does not only speak of the origins of the physical universe out of the unimaginable, but also of man's place in the universe.
Not a well thought out idea here but it's all that comes to mind and though I'm probably just over thinking it, J.J. Abrams has a tendency to delve very deeply into the construct of his films.
When Ben places a call in the subway to mother in the subway, it's 3:16 in the morning... possible biblical reference? Also in the subway, closeups of the sign that reads "NO EXIT".. perhaps foreshadowing, or simply a simple truth that we are all mortal.
The empty carriage being pulled by the white horses... perhaps the pale horse of Death in Revelations.
Saturday May 23, 6:42 AM 3 days before Memorial Day Apr 27 6:17PM