Review: Cloverfield Is A Monster Movie From A Different Perspective
- Feb 5, 2018
- 1 min read
I hate found footage. Almost all of it in fact. They're lazy, messy and usually boring. Somehow, Cloverfield isn't.
A big monster attacks New York City and generally ruins everyone's day. Hudson (TJ Miller) captures it, along with copious amounts of screaming, shouting and wailing, on his camera. That's all there really is. Sure there's some relationship drama but the movie cares about it as much as you will, which is to say it doesn't.
First and foremost, Cloverfield is a monster movie, and a pretty good one at that. The creature isn't exactly new, nor does it really do anything other than wander around and destroy things, but that's the best part of these movies. Where Cloverfield defines itself is in the found footage style. Adopting a semi-cinematic style rather than the usual haphazard shaky cam most make use of, it helps to define the action as more standardized. This is a good thing.
Having the camera, and thus the audience, on street level helps to ground the movie further. When the military inevitably arrive and begin their attack, it's more like watching a documentary that a movie. But you never really care. Aside from some short and incredibly generic introductions at the beginning, the characters are utterly uninteresting, thus making everything that happens to them feel totally underwhelming. It's not a problem endemic to this genre, but it's one that almost all found footage films have.
So yeah, check out Cloverfield. It's not going to blow your mind but it's short, enjoyable and does enough within the genre to make it actually watchable.
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