Cloverfield (2008)

CLOVERFIELD

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Note: this does NOT contain any spoilers beyond general expository information (like that which you might read on the back of the box, or see in a trailer).

  

Overview: Not an all-time masterpiece, but an impressive and skillfully executed new take on a long-dwindling genre.

Ten years after Alien Abduction: Incident In Lake County landed, there was Cloverfield, another daring and unique take on the found footage genre. When the teaser trailers for this first appeared, I was enthralled. Found footage, wanton destruction, mystery, what more do I need? I, like many, thought it might be a reinvention of the American Godzilla. Which, conceptually, it pretty much was, and it would make a far more respectable American Godzilla than the one that exists.

Overall it was a brilliant concept, smartly executed. It was exciting, intriguing, daring and shocking. But I also feel it lacked certain elements essential to a perfect found footage film. In a supernatural/horror found footage film, the lack of conventional action is carried over by fear; the foreboding atmosphere, the dread of impending doom, the thoughts running through your head about what despicable entities could be lurking just off-screen. There may not be a lot that's specifically happening, but there's a lot on your mind just the same.

With a monster movie such as Cloverfield, you don't have that fear to carry you through the downtime. Or, at least, I didn't. Okay, so there's impending doom, there're monsters, but I don't feel like the movie was based around fear the way that The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity is. Cloverfield was more action oriented, and I don't feel that it worked out quite as successfully for a subtle-by-nature style of film such as this.

All in all I'd have to rank Cloverfield as another classic found footage film, complete with a successful viral campaign, and as a stunningly original entry into the monster genre. But it's not a movie I will return to often, and I'm not surprised "Cloverfield 2" has yet to materialize nearing four years later, while Paranormal Activity is releasing its third film later this month.

I'm not sure what interesting territory is left for a second film to tread on, other than a more traditional direction that would focus on showing us more about the monster and its attack. All the same, a sequel is still purportedly in the works, and if it materializes I will be anxious to witness it.