An ambitious monster movie that can't crawl out from under its vapid script...

Rating: 6/10 (11 March 2008)

..."Cloverfield" represents a triumph of what is known as "viral marketing" (mainly lots of teasers scattered about the Internet), which secured it a powerhouse opening weekend and more than enough butts in the seats over its theatrical run to guarantee a sequel, but in terms of storytelling left an awful lot to desire. As Shakespeare would have described it, the film amounts to "a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing." I caught this one second-run, and am glad I economized.
Screenwriter Drew "Lost" Goddard is unable to transfer his success in television to the big screen, primarily by failing to get the audience to identify with his characters, despite spending the bulk of "Cloverfield"'s first act introducing them. By the time they start dying, I didn't really care one way or the other; I had no emotional investment in them. Now, perhaps that's because I'm no longer a 20-something. But, my kids are, and I think that's the key; these 20-somethings didn't remind me of my kids, or any of their friends. They had no real identity, or real personality. Rob (Michael "The Black Donnellys" Stahl-David) is a VP of something-or-other heading for Japan to do who-knows-what. His brother, Jason (Mike "Poseidon" Vogel), has thrown a surprise bon voyage party for him, and among the attendees are Jason's girlfriend, Lily (Jessica "The Covenant" Lucas), Rob's best buddy, Hud (T.J. "Carpoolers" Miller), who ends up as the film's cinematic POV, Lily's friend, Marlena (Lizzy "The Class" Caplan), and Rob's ex-lover, Beth (Odette "South Beach" Yustman), who leaves the party early and provides the supposed motivation for the rest of the cast's trek across a monster-mashed NYC. Some might say she's little more than the film's MacGuffin, and they wouldn't be far wrong. Beth and the rest of the main characters have nothing in the script to latch onto to flesh themselves out, and seem virtually interchangeable. They're barely more than the impersonal statistics they'd have become otherwise had the camera not been there to record them.
Then again, it's just a big ol' monster movie, right? And it's the rare monster movie that provides us with characters we care about. "King Kong" (both versions) springs to mind, as does "Jurassic Park" and a few others. Even "Gwoemul/The Host" does a better job of eliciting our empathy than "Cloverfield," despite the cultural dissonance of the former. The acting is nowhere near as bad as some critics have complained, but Goddard's script just doesn't give them enough to wrap their chops around. More's the shame, because Matt "Felicity" Reeves does a remarkably good job for not having directed a feature film since the forgettable "The Pallbearer" over a decade ago, and the production values are outstanding, including the herky-jerky digital cinematography by Michael "Lost" Bonvillain, and superb SFX work by the likes of Tippett Studio ("Robocop") and Double Negative ("Pitch Black").
It's all in the plotting, and "Cloverfield"'s story is a simple one: boy has girl, boy loses girl, boy meets monster, boy rescues girl, boy and girl end up unhappy ever after. The film has its share of "oh, c'mons," mostly ones involving the dubiously-motivated actions of its leads, but the audience's visceral thrill at being in the center of things somewhat overcomes that. Still, this viewer was left with the feeling that Goddard should stick with scripting television; small wonder that "Cloverfield" clocks in at barely 80 minutes.
I'll watch "Cloverfield" again when it's released on DVD, but I'm not sure it'll find a place in my collection unless it has a ton of extras. Despite the stylistic similarities to the much more engaging "The Blair Witch Project," this marketing monster just doesn't have the same legs.
10.21.08 edit: Having finally caught up to the DVD (thank you, public library!), I stand by my comments above. My viewing companion mostly agreed with me, but did note, interestingly enough, that she was reminded of "Friends," and suspects that the story was subconsciously written with that show in mind. Rob is Ross, Beth is Rachel, Jason and Lily are Chandler and Monica, Marlena is Phoebe, and Hud is Joey. Makes sense to me, and gives the characters more than enough back story to make them more engaging. The DVD includes a number of featurettes, a director commentary, deleted scenes, two vaguely "alternate" endings, and a few previews. The transfer is excellent, really showcasing the technical achievements of the film. Too bad it really wasn't a long episode of "Friends"; now that would have been memorable!