Cloverfield

I saw Cloverfield on Sunday and have to say that I have mixed emotions about it. I really liked the movie. I enjoyed the man on the street perspective and the realism that the jittery handi-cam lent to the movie, but I couldn’t help thinking to myself at least a dozen or so times ‘There’s no way in friggin’ Hell I would still be carrying that fucking thing!”. I mean the first chance I got to use it as a club or a projectile I would of. Screw posterity, those bugs look like nasty son’s o’ bitches.

I was also disappointed with how little you get to see the monster. I do understand that this elevated the tension and made it seem more realistic. I mean who in their right mind would stop to get a shot framed properly when a giant city smashing monster that has body lice the size of Labradors dropping off of it is running around. Stupid people who deserve what they get, but I would have liked to have a little more of the monster shown. This is a movie after all and half the fun is seeing the monster. It isn’t REAL documentary footage and I don’t think any of us in the theater were likely to have held that against them.

There’s also supposed to be something at the end of the movie both in the final shot and in the last few seconds after the credits, neither of which I saw. One is an object falling into the water which supposedly can be seen from the couple’s vantage point on the Ferris Wheel. The other is a recording of a transmission just at the end that reportedly opens up the possibility of a sequel. I guess I’ll have to pay the ten bucks to see it again and try to catch them both.

All in all, I liked the film and left wanting more, which is the hallmark of any good movie. I’ve read that the sequel may be the same events from another person’s point of view or perhaps another camcorder rather than an traditionally shot movie. I hope not. One vomit inducing movie night per decade is enough for me.