'Cloverfield': Godzilla for a new millennium

By Liz Wilson

February 27, 2008 | J.J Abrams has reinvented the big green lizard story and added a whole new twist.

Cloverfield is his latest movie to hit theaters. With a long list of past action successes under his belt its no wonder that this movie created a buzz. Some of his past projects include Armageddon, and hit TV shows such as Alias and Lost. Part of the buzz about this movie came from the actual lack of information about it. With a vague trailer and relatively unknown actors on board no one could quite say what the movie was about. Before it even hit theaters hard-core fans were starting messages boards on sites like Cinema Blend.com and asking for any information about the movie.

This tactic of giving out only a little information about the movie did wonders for Abrams flick. According to Boxofficemojo.com, in the five weeks that Cloverfield has been in theaters is has grossed $77,866,000. This proves that a little advertising goes a long way.

In making a new version of the old, big monster terrorizes big city plot, J.J Abrams decided to blend in some camera techniques from Blair Witch. The entire film is shot as if by a handheld camera. The cameraman is Hud, played by newcomer T.J. Miller, who provides not only the only point of view but also all of the comedy for the film.

Comedy was the most unexpected element of this movie. We first meet the characters at a going away party for Rob played by Michael Stahl-David. Ironically Rob is leaving to go to a job in Japan. Japan, Godzilla . . . I think there is some connection here.

During the course of the party a romantic interlude is discovered between Rob and fellow partygoer Beth. Rob's brother and his best friend Hud try to help their friend solve his romantic programs when the city is attacked. At this point panic ensues and we are left only seeing running people and flying debris. As the party breaks us and our main characters start to evacuate, we have a six person group: Rob, his brother Jason, Jason's girl friend Lily, Hud, Marlene (a random party guest and also HUD's romantic interest) and later Beth.

Throughout the first half of the movie, the "creature" is all but barely visible. The audience only sees glimpses of a lizardlike tail. It is not until later in the movie that we see the real dangerous predators. A human-sized parasite that falls off the monster is the main source of terror for the group of refugees fleeing New York City. These creatures are also responsible for the most deaths during the film. The cause of death is also a mystery and is presumably another tactic of Abrams and crew. Those bitten by the mini monsters later bleed from their eyes and then explode, for reasons unknown to any of the main characters. So even after the film ends, you are left wondering why the people who were bitten died. The source of the monster is also left to the imagination.

Despite the seemingly serious undertones of the film it was surprisingly very funny. Even while the group is trekking through dark abandoned subway tunnels, cameraman Hud says, "Do you guys remember a couple of years ago when that guy was lighting homeless people on fire in the subways?" These and other funny quotes are abundant in the film and can all be found on Internet Movie Data Base along with a synopsis, people's personal reviews, and information about the actors.

Critics of the film had overall the same good opinion of this high-speed thriller. The overall grade of film critics on Yahoo! Movies was a B. For those who like a scary but humorous story this is the move for you. Its success in the box office may be a prediction of the good things to come J.J. Abrams' latest thrilling creation.

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