The blueprint for Cloverfield, brainchild of TV maestro turned blockbuster innovator J.J. Abrams, is relatively simple: Godzilla for the YouTube generation. The mission statement is clearest in one truly 21st century moment, heavily popularized by the film's ubiquitous and mysterious trailer, in which the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty crash lands on a New York City street and all the witnesses handily whip out their cell phones to document the event. Documentation is the crux of this modern monster movie, penned by "Lost" scribe Drew Goddard and directed by "Felicity" co-creator Matt Reeves. It hinges on the novel idea of blending low tech photography with high tech special effects shots. The film itself is introduced as archival footage catalogued in a top secret government registry and discovered at "the area formerly known as Central Park." Conveniently, one very diligent pedestrian named Hud (T.J. Miller) feels a moral obligation to document this historical night of carnage with a personal camcorder. It so happens that the unfortunately named Hud has been tasked with collecting "testimonials" from friends at a big farewell party for his buddy Rob (Michael Stahl-David). When some "thing" hits New York, he decides to let the camera keep rolling for the future information of all people. "People are going to want to know how it went down," he says.If there's a flaw here it's that the signature device of the film, shaky cam digital carnage, is as bold and rewarding as it can be limiting. The level of convenience and contrivance needed to explain why our ragtag group of protagonists would a) head toward and not away from the "thing" and b) be constantly right below or above it makes the narrative a bit questionable. It's also no help that the characters, though played with an efficient naturalism, don't particularly warm themselves to the audience. We meet them only briefly before the running and screaming begins, making our concern for them merely that of a desire not to see anybody torn to shreds, not specifically these people. The only one with any real personality is poor, out of sight Hud, who spits out one liners and self-aware commentary from behind our first person perspective.
That being said, Cloverfield is, for the most part, a rollicking success. The handheld camera work is no Blair Witch cop out. It works to the advantage of the film by giving us a front seat to the mayhem and disorienting us enough to convey the actual confusion of being at the center of a catastrophe. Rather than being omnipotent viewers, we're active participants, taking wrong turns and getting lost in the streets of New York. We see only what the characters see and know only what they know. This frees up the story from exposition and banal back story and instead lets us just bask in the scary, suspenseful ride. Reeves works the POV cam in the best possible ways, creating a constant chill of fear about what may be lurking in the off-screen space. The answers are often surprising and occasionally fatal.
The film is worth seeing for the simple fact that it is a true original (among other things). It may borrow bits and pieces from earlier works, but its delivery is unique and effective. At the very least, it's a fun experiment that turned out to be probably the best monster movie since The Host.
Grade: B+
