the movieGOOMBA

3.5 GOOMBAS

Were you sitting there, waiting with anticipation for the awesomeness of Transformers? The lights are dimming, the cold theater giving you goosebumps, the previews are starting, you're starting to sit back and relax and then . . . some weird ass movie trailer with no name plays and you see the head of the Statue of Liberty fly into the street. All you get is a date. A freaking date. "What the hell was that?" you ask. Then, you suddenly "Ooooh" with the rest of the audience as you see the name J.J. Abrams appear on the screen.

Brought to you from the obscure mind of TV's Lost producer, Cloverfield is a documentary-style monster movie about a group of young Manhattanites who try and survive the night. It's Rob's going away party, and as the night goes on and the social drama unfolds, an explosion occurs, and the real drama begins. The friends attempt to escape the city, but when the Brooklyn Bridge collapses and Rob decides to find Beth, the girl he loves, the friends find themselves in the middle of the battle between the US army and the thing before they are able to escape.

Let me start out with a disclaimer - I was incredibly nauseous by the end of the movie. I didn’t see anyone throw up, so it couldn’t have been that bad. But whatever you do, don’t sit up in the front!

Shot entirely from the first-person perspective of Hud, Rob’s best friend and the comic relief of the film, with his video camera, Cloverfield has so many great and cutting-edge aspects of a quality film. The main footage has intermittent slices of Beth and Rob’s day at Cooney Island because the movie is actually “taped over” their one perfect and only day together, and that symbolism in itself is already profound. There is no mention of a monster; the characters only react to what’s in front of them with “What the hell is that?!?” No one knows what’s going on, including the audience; the chaos is absolute, and we’re meant to be as completely in the dark as the fated New Yorkers. The suspense is almost unpalatable (almost), and it’s amazing how seamless the story-telling is when it’s a film meant to mimic an unedited home movie. The ending is perfectly poetic; the movie has a subtle way about it and is never quite that over-the-top. I can't help but know that this is how it would all go down if my friends and I were in this same situation.

However, where Cloverfield excels in craft, it lacks in follow through. Toward the end of the film, it starts losing some of its edge. Though not as satisfying, the unknown is always scarier, and revealing certain things wasn't such a good decision. The characters, through pretty well developed, usually don't react like how I think people (some in heels for that matter) in the middle of a devastated, monster infested, war zone would react.

I've always hated home movies. They have a haunting quality that is so personal and impossible to look away from. Cloverfield captures the final moments of some people's lives, and you're there, unable to help. It's aweful and simultaneously brilliant. Even though it doesn't make my "All Time Favorite Movies" list, the pop culture cult qualities and accomplished method of narration make the film worthy of the hype.

Sidenote: Recognize Beth? That's Rosa, the little girl who only spoke Spanish from Kindergarten Cop.

Sidenote: The radio transmission after the credits? Highlight to see "It's still alive . . ."