Over the years I’ve seen a hell lot of sci-fi/horror movies coming from hollywood. So much so that watching another alien flick, another zombie flick, another lethal-chemical-leaks flick seems an exasperating task. Few are different and convincing enough to hold your attention, others compel you to concentrate on the popcorn. Cloverfield appears out of nowhere, and guess what? It’s pretty good!
The US defence department finds a tape that held video recordings of a ’thing’ that attacked New York city a week back. The tape is a recording of a party thrown by a bunch of New Yorkers for their friend Rob Hawkins who’s made it big in a Japanese firm. As the party progresses we’re shown how an ’earthquake’ disrupts not just the party, but practically entire lower Manhattan. And armed with nothing but a video camera to document everything, the bunch of friends battle their way through the turbulent Manhattan to midtown New York to save Rob’s love interest trapped in a high rise, balanced precariously like trembling jelly against another high rise amidst the ’attack’.
First thing’s first: the script has nothing new. It’s an alien that attacks New York. But it’s the cleverly placed subplots and SFX that really gets you involved in the film. The jerky camera effect that got The Blair Witch Project a cult status is employed here, but not just for namesake. From the time at the party till the final reel, the movie is a supposed documentary of the entire incident shot by Rob Hawkins and his pal Hud Morris.
There’s not much scope for character development as the film is hardly 84 mins and things begin to happen in the very first frame. Still, the leads, Michael Stahl-David, T J Miller, Jessica Lucas and Lizzy Caplan deliver extremely neat performances. The direction is smart. Eh, rather the director, Matt Reeves is smart. He won’t let you sit back in your seat (or couch) for a minute as the movie progresses like a true disaster documentary that is scarily convincing.
The SFX is top-notch. I wonder how they made the film for just $25 millions. The scene where the ’thing’ blows cars apart like leaves from across the street and the scene where the friends are found dumb-struck at the sight of a shaky high rise are pretty convincing. The cinematography is pretty neat too, with the brooklyn bridge, the beheaded statue of liberty etc. are shown so realistically and casually that it gives you the sense of a very grim, ugly disaster thats just about to happen.
To sum it up, Cloverfield is a smart little sci-fi/horror movie even though the script has been beaten to death. The apt direction, neat performances, terrific SFX and an anti-climactic end to complement the clever subplots ensure you get a good deal of smart thrills.