Weighing in on CLOVERFIELD

Yes, I saw CLOVERFIELD............

It's not new information that I love giant monster films. That's a given. When that "mystery trailer" showed up in theaters this past summer, it certainly piqued my interest. Well, with $41Million in the box office over the weekend, it seems to have struck a chord with alot of people!! On the whole, I liked it. I'd give it a "B". The whole shakey-hand-held-camcorder "cinematography" was, oddly professionally done, and we had moments of total chaos and blurred images to moments of being settled down, alternating, just so the audience wouldn't be getting the heebie-jeebies. During a party for a young guy, going to Japan(in-joke) for a high end job situation, a disaster starts happening in New York City. Soon it becomes evident something huge and alive is wandering the streets and destroying everything in sight, and spectacularly. And the film is presented as something found by the military and sequestered to possibly shut down any evidence of this event having happened. We see an opening set of color bars and then a "US Dept of Defense" logo watermarked into the tape designating that it was found at "Sector designate: CLOVERFIELD" which was "Formerly location: Central Park". It's a giant monster, it's origin unknown but, perhaps hinted at if you look close enough. It is NOT Godzilla, as so many rumors persisted. It's not a Lovecraftian thing either but it does look very weird in a simplistic way. What follows is pretty scary and, I won't reveal too much, only to say, go see it, failing that watch the DVD when that comes out. Possibly the most realistic monster film I have ever seen. Plays upon fears and jitters post 9/11, as the original GODZILLA played up and personified fears of nuclear weapons for Japanese audiences, over 50 years ago. The sight of buildings collapsing, exploding, is very realistic and intended to give us a feeling of deja-vu of those terrible days on and after 9/11/01. The film is not for everyone, nor do I think it will breath life back into Godzilla, but it's certainly a fun, scary romp. Oh, and stay for the credits. We're treated to a terrific piece of music-the only "theme" done for the movie-called "ROAR!" which is a terrific and purposeful homage to ALL monster movie music from the 1950's. It's terrific and one of the best aspects of the film.