“Cloverfield”
wears its references on its sleeve. On the immediate surface, it
is two parts “War of the Worlds” and one part “Godzilla”;
but then it gets poured through a “Blair Witch Project”
filter and sprinkled with “The Sixth Sense” story-telling
dust. So with all those obvious references, I was so surprised that
it was original and creative and truly scared the b’jeepers
out of me.
Who stars in “Cloverfield”? Nobody you know. Who wrote
it? No one you’ve heard of. Director? No. All you get from
the ads are, “from producer J. J. Abrams.” As a film guy,
that meant nothing to me. After further review J. J. Abrams is possibly
the most creative force in television today. His first hit came
in the late nineties with “Felicity”. Whether you set
your VCRs for that or not, Abrams followed up with two of TV’s
biggest hits, “Alias” and “Lost”.
To answer my earlier questions, the writer is Drew Goddard (who
incidentally wrote for “Alias” and currently writes for
“Lost”) and the Director is Matt Reeves (“Felicity’s”
co-creator, writer and director). It’s good to have “friends”
in Hollywood. I’m not a big TV watcher, but I know those programs
launched the careers of some virtual unknowns, including Keri Russell
and Jennifer Garner.
The film starts with a message that informs you that this footage
was found in an area formerly known as Central Park (which I believe
is the only reference to the title – the big grassy area in
the middle of Central Park is a clover field). I was incredibly
impressed by the way the film stayed true to its “found footage”
story. There really was a great sense of experiencing the event
as it happened, without the temptation of answering questions that
nobody would have answers to yet.
Don’t expect to recognize the stars of “Cloverfield”
however. The same model that worked on TV is being used here. The
yet-to-be-discovered cast of young actors lends credibility to the
fake-umentary styled film. Without a familiar face to distract me,
my mind was completely drawn into the story.
You do, however, have to want to go on this ride, and what a ride
it is. It’s like one of the local Halloween Haunted Houses.
You are just pushed from one nightmarish scene to another, and the
hardest part of ride is the shaky, handheld video documentation.
If you have your choice, seat toward the rear of the theater; up
close could produce a little motion sickness.
