Cloverfield

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2010)

Cashing in on the successful "found footage" format, seen in successful low-budget movies like The Blair Witch Project, and Paranormal Activity, this ambitious bigger budget film does it to make a disaster movie, produced by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Super 8, Star Trek, Star Wars), directed by Matt Reeves (Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes). Basically, the footage seen is recovered by the United States Department of Defense in the area "formerly known as Central Park", for a case titled "Cloverfield". It is footage captured by a group of friends across New York City and Coney Island, with clips from a former recording seen is parts throughout. Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) is leaving the city to travel to Japan for a new job, so his brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and Jason's girlfriend Lily Ford (Jessica Lucas) have thrown a farewell party. Their friend Hudson 'Hud' Platt (T.J. Miller) films testimonials for Rob during the party, while Rob's ex-girlfriend Elizabeth 'Beth' McIntyre (Odette Annable) shows up with a new man. Rob and Beth have an argument, during which a supposed earthquake strikes, and a brief citywide power outage occurs. Suddenly, many loud noises are heard, and explosions are seen from a distance. When the partygoers leave the building, the severed head of the Statue of Liberty is hurled into the street in front of them. Then an enormous creature is seen several blocks away collapsing the Woolworth Building. Later, during the city's evacuation, the Brooklyn Bridge is destroyed by the creature's tail, killing Jason and several other people. News reports show the army troops and vehicles attacking the monster. Smaller "parasite" creatures fall off its body and attack nearby pedestrians and soldiers. Going against the crowd, Rob, Hud escape the subway, Lily, and another partygoer, Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), venture into Midtown Manhattan to rescue Beth. They get caught in a battle between the creature and the Army National Guard and run into the subway, soon attacked by several of the parasitic creatures. Marlena is bitten, but the four escape and find a command centre and field hospital. Marlena bleeds from her eyes in reaction to the bite. She is dragged into a tent, where she appears to explode. Rob, intending to save Beth, persuades one of the military leaders to let him go. The man then tells Rob when the last evacuation helicopter will depart before the military executes its plan to destroy Manhattan hoping to kill the monster. The group manage to climb the building opposite to enter the apartment building leaning next to it, and they find Beth impaled on exposed rebar. The four make their way to the evacuation site at Grand Central Terminal, where they encounter the creature once again. Lily is rushed into a departing Marine Corps helicopter and escapes. Moments later, Rob, Beth, and Hud are taken away in a second helicopter and witness the creature being bombed. The bombing causes the creature to fall, but it lunges at the group's helicopter, causing it to crash into Central Park. On the crashed helicopter's radio, the group are warned that a second bombing will commence in fifteen minutes. The three friends regain consciousness and flee; Hud retrieves the camera when the creature suddenly appears and kills him. Sirens blare and the bombing starts, Rob and Beth grab the camera and take shelter under an arch. Rob and Beth take turns to leave their last testimony of the day's events. The bridge crumbles, and the camera is knocked out of Rob's hand and buried under rubble. Rob and Beth proclaim their love for each other just before another bomb goes off, with both screaming while the monster roars. Also starring Margot Farley as Jenn, Theo Rossi as Antonio, Brian Klugman as Charlie, Kelvin Yu as Clark, and Ben Feldman as Travis. The performances are average, the special effects are reasonable, and the camera is often shaky, but these faults aside, you can get into it and enjoy things going crash and bang. I originally thought that this film was either naff or silly, but I'm glad I watched it again and gave it a second, it is an interesting enough alternative to the typical monster movie, a watchable science-fiction action thriller. Worth watching!