So...Cloverfield
Jan. 21st, 2008 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuGodzilla was pretty clearly a metaphor for America, don't you think? A giant, nuclear-powered monster which came from the Pacific to rain destruction on Japan. An unstoppable juggernaut against which the entire Japanese military was helpless. It crushed people, tanks, warplanes, warships and cities alike, and literally rained nuclear fire on them.
And yet, eventually, Godzilla came to be Japan's friend and ally. Its protector. It defended Japan from other members ofthe nuclear club the monster brigade, monsters which were still hostile to Japan. Godzilla, which could not be defeated by all of Japan's military might was tamed by friendship.
Is Cloverfield a metaphor? I don't know. Looking back, the metaphorical nature of Godzilla seems pretty clear to me. Was it obvious at the time? I dunno. But Cloverfield is a pretty darn good monster movie. I went to the 10:30 showing last night on a sudden whim. I'd have waited to go with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snippy but I'm sure she wouldn't want to see it. The "shaky cam" thing would undoubtedly make her ill--I occasionally wound up watching the corner of the movie screen when it was particularly bad. (I agree with the reviewers on Ebert & Roeper--future film-makers who want to use the "amateur video" motif should keep in mind that people have been using videocams for a long time now. They've largely learned to avoid the worst of the shaky-cam jitter by now. Don't overdo it.)
Does Cloverfield make light of, or play on, the events of 9/11, as I've heard it suggested?
No. Film makers have always tried to make their special effects as realistic as possible (at least, given the constraints of time and money). Independence Day also showed us New York City being destroyed, but it was released in 1996. We saw buildings exploding, crowds running for their lives. But not the immense clouds of dust billowing down the streets and engulfing everyone and everything, nor the flying debris. Cloverfield shows us that, not to play on the memories of 9/11 (in my opinion) but because 9/11 showed us what it really looks like when high rise buildings collapse. The latter film was made more realistic by incorporating those real world consequences into the special effects.
Cloverfield also put us squarely in the shoes of people on the ground during a giant monster attack, which is the main thing that makes it stand out. We don't get an omniscient viewer's understanding of events. We don't get to see where and how the monster came to be. We don't get hear what scientists, generals and Presidents are told, what they theorize, what they're planning. We simply find ourselves watching ordinary people reacting to an impossible, horrific situation as "something terrible"* attacks the city.
We follow the adventures of Rob, Jason, Beth, Lily, Marlena and Hud. They're all at a going-away part for Rob, who is about to travel to Japan to take up a new job. During the party the power goes out briefly and the building shudders. They learn from the television that an oil tanker has capsized in the harbor, which isn't far away. The party crowd goes up to the roof to see if they can see anything. They're there when the oil tanker explodes (the immense fireball we see in the trailers), and thus starts the worst night of their lives.
Hud (someone online points out that HUD is an acrynoym for "Heads Up Display") is the cameraman, appointed by Lily to film the party. He continues filming throughout the chaos and struggle to survive, saying that "this will be important" when people ask why. Given that the whole film is presented as recovered footage seized by the Department of Defense from (what used to be known as) Central Park, he's right.
Lily is engaged to Jason, Rob's brother. Rob is in love with Beth, and they even slept together once a month or so earlier, but he only admits--to himself as well as to others--that he loves her the night the monster attacks. But only after a fight with Beth before she leaves the party with her new boyfriend. Hud is Rob's best friend and clearly carries a torch for Marlena, a relative stranger to the group whom he repeatedly tries to engage in conversation despite her obvious disinterest.
After the inital explosion the group flees the rooftop and go out of the building into the streets, where they witness the arrival of Lady Liberty's head. There is much chaos and destruction, lots of running and hiding. Eventually our group join others in trying to flee Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge. During their trek, Rob receives a frantic phone call from Beth; she's injured and can't move, begging for help. While he's talking to her, the monster attacks the bridge, collapsing part of it. Rob's brother Jason is killed, though the others flee back the way they came.
Rob determines to go find and rescue Beth, who lives in mid-town (exactly the direction they don't want to go, as Hud points out). But Rob refuses to heed any warnings. Lily, Marlena and Hud eventually follow along. They're swept up in a violent military battle against the monster before taking refuge in a subway station. Rob receives a call from his mother and reassures her that he's safe, but has to break the news of his brother's death to her.
Eventually they start walking up a subway tunnel, intending to follow the tunnel to a station near Beth's apartment. Along the way they discover a carpet of rats running past them, moving in the same direction. It comes as no surprise that they're soon attacked by mini-monsters; they escape but Marlena has been badly bitten. After doing their best to treat her wounds, they move on, and soon encounter a squad of soldiers who bring them to a makeshift infirmary and command post. Asked what that thing is, a soldier says, "I don't know. But whatever it is, it's winning."
Marlena, dizzy and bleeding from the eyes, causes someone to shout "She's been bitten!" Panic ensues and she's dragged away behind a curtain, where we see her shadow burst in a wash of blood. Rob still intends to rescue Beth and a soldier lets them go (he's got more to worry about than some suicidal civilians), warning them that the last chopper out will be at 6 a.m. and that if the monster hasn't been destroyed, the authorities will give up "this area" for lost. "Mid-town?" Rob asks. "Manhattan," the soldier replies. They'll level the place in hopes of destroying the monster.
Rob and company continue their trek, eventually reaching Beth's apartment building, which has toppled sideways and rests at an angle against an adjacent building. They climb the stairs of the upright building, climb out onto the roof of Beth's building, down the stairs, and do find her alive--but impaled on a piece of rebar through the shoulder. They free her and escape back the way they came.
They reach the LZ at last. Lily is bundled onto a helicopter with strangers and it takes off. Rob, Hud and Beth are put on another helicopter. They hear an announcement that "Hammerdown"--an all-out (nuclear, one presumes) strike on the monster is going to take place in fifteen minutes. It will be preceded by sirens two minutes beforehand. "If you can hear the sirens, you're in the strike zone."
Their helicopter takes off and Hud spots a stealth bomber doing a bombing run; bombs explode, including direct hits on the monster, which vanishes in a cloud of dust and smoke. Hud cheers--prematurely, as the monster lunges and strikes the helicopter, which spins out of control and crashes. Our heroes survive the crash in Central Park and flee. Hud runs back for the camera, which he'd dropped--and finds himself facing the monster.
Scratch Hud, killed by the monster (we don't see exactly what happened to him, but it's strongly implied that he was bitten in half). Rob and Lily grieve over him for a few moments after the monster has moved on. Then Rob grabs the camera and they run, eventually taking shelter under a bridge in Central Park. They're both shellshocked and not really capable of much more at this point than huddling together to wait for whatever happens next.
What happens next is the sirens. Rob and Beth identify themselves in the video and tell one another that they love each other. A blast rattles the view, and the camera POV is surrounded by fallen rubble; a second, fiery blast lights up the scene and the film ends, save for a short segment (previously recorded, and recorded over by the party/monster footage) of Rob and Beth at Coney Island, ending with Beth saying "It was a good day."
Is the monster dead? You don't know. Are Rob and Beth dead? Almost certainly. Is Lily dead? Some viewers claim they saw Lily's helicopter also smoldering on the ground after Rob and Beth's crash, but I didn't see it. I like to think that Lily, at least, got out.
*The word "monster" is never, ever used in the film. I think that was a good choice. Simply to name the creature "monster" is to place it into a familiar mental box. We know what a monster is: a werewolf, a vampire, godzilla. We know what they are and what they can do. By never using that word, we're more likely to avoid putting the creature into a comfortable box. We're left to see it as the characters see it, an unprecedented, unpredictable, unknowable threat.
And yet, eventually, Godzilla came to be Japan's friend and ally. Its protector. It defended Japan from other members of
Is Cloverfield a metaphor? I don't know. Looking back, the metaphorical nature of Godzilla seems pretty clear to me. Was it obvious at the time? I dunno. But Cloverfield is a pretty darn good monster movie. I went to the 10:30 showing last night on a sudden whim. I'd have waited to go with
snippy but I'm sure she wouldn't want to see it. The "shaky cam" thing would undoubtedly make her ill--I occasionally wound up watching the corner of the movie screen when it was particularly bad. (I agree with the reviewers on Ebert & Roeper--future film-makers who want to use the "amateur video" motif should keep in mind that people have been using videocams for a long time now. They've largely learned to avoid the worst of the shaky-cam jitter by now. Don't overdo it.)Does Cloverfield make light of, or play on, the events of 9/11, as I've heard it suggested?
No. Film makers have always tried to make their special effects as realistic as possible (at least, given the constraints of time and money). Independence Day also showed us New York City being destroyed, but it was released in 1996. We saw buildings exploding, crowds running for their lives. But not the immense clouds of dust billowing down the streets and engulfing everyone and everything, nor the flying debris. Cloverfield shows us that, not to play on the memories of 9/11 (in my opinion) but because 9/11 showed us what it really looks like when high rise buildings collapse. The latter film was made more realistic by incorporating those real world consequences into the special effects.
Cloverfield also put us squarely in the shoes of people on the ground during a giant monster attack, which is the main thing that makes it stand out. We don't get an omniscient viewer's understanding of events. We don't get to see where and how the monster came to be. We don't get hear what scientists, generals and Presidents are told, what they theorize, what they're planning. We simply find ourselves watching ordinary people reacting to an impossible, horrific situation as "something terrible"* attacks the city.
We follow the adventures of Rob, Jason, Beth, Lily, Marlena and Hud. They're all at a going-away part for Rob, who is about to travel to Japan to take up a new job. During the party the power goes out briefly and the building shudders. They learn from the television that an oil tanker has capsized in the harbor, which isn't far away. The party crowd goes up to the roof to see if they can see anything. They're there when the oil tanker explodes (the immense fireball we see in the trailers), and thus starts the worst night of their lives.
Hud (someone online points out that HUD is an acrynoym for "Heads Up Display") is the cameraman, appointed by Lily to film the party. He continues filming throughout the chaos and struggle to survive, saying that "this will be important" when people ask why. Given that the whole film is presented as recovered footage seized by the Department of Defense from (what used to be known as) Central Park, he's right.
Lily is engaged to Jason, Rob's brother. Rob is in love with Beth, and they even slept together once a month or so earlier, but he only admits--to himself as well as to others--that he loves her the night the monster attacks. But only after a fight with Beth before she leaves the party with her new boyfriend. Hud is Rob's best friend and clearly carries a torch for Marlena, a relative stranger to the group whom he repeatedly tries to engage in conversation despite her obvious disinterest.
After the inital explosion the group flees the rooftop and go out of the building into the streets, where they witness the arrival of Lady Liberty's head. There is much chaos and destruction, lots of running and hiding. Eventually our group join others in trying to flee Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge. During their trek, Rob receives a frantic phone call from Beth; she's injured and can't move, begging for help. While he's talking to her, the monster attacks the bridge, collapsing part of it. Rob's brother Jason is killed, though the others flee back the way they came.
Rob determines to go find and rescue Beth, who lives in mid-town (exactly the direction they don't want to go, as Hud points out). But Rob refuses to heed any warnings. Lily, Marlena and Hud eventually follow along. They're swept up in a violent military battle against the monster before taking refuge in a subway station. Rob receives a call from his mother and reassures her that he's safe, but has to break the news of his brother's death to her.
Eventually they start walking up a subway tunnel, intending to follow the tunnel to a station near Beth's apartment. Along the way they discover a carpet of rats running past them, moving in the same direction. It comes as no surprise that they're soon attacked by mini-monsters; they escape but Marlena has been badly bitten. After doing their best to treat her wounds, they move on, and soon encounter a squad of soldiers who bring them to a makeshift infirmary and command post. Asked what that thing is, a soldier says, "I don't know. But whatever it is, it's winning."
Marlena, dizzy and bleeding from the eyes, causes someone to shout "She's been bitten!" Panic ensues and she's dragged away behind a curtain, where we see her shadow burst in a wash of blood. Rob still intends to rescue Beth and a soldier lets them go (he's got more to worry about than some suicidal civilians), warning them that the last chopper out will be at 6 a.m. and that if the monster hasn't been destroyed, the authorities will give up "this area" for lost. "Mid-town?" Rob asks. "Manhattan," the soldier replies. They'll level the place in hopes of destroying the monster.
Rob and company continue their trek, eventually reaching Beth's apartment building, which has toppled sideways and rests at an angle against an adjacent building. They climb the stairs of the upright building, climb out onto the roof of Beth's building, down the stairs, and do find her alive--but impaled on a piece of rebar through the shoulder. They free her and escape back the way they came.
They reach the LZ at last. Lily is bundled onto a helicopter with strangers and it takes off. Rob, Hud and Beth are put on another helicopter. They hear an announcement that "Hammerdown"--an all-out (nuclear, one presumes) strike on the monster is going to take place in fifteen minutes. It will be preceded by sirens two minutes beforehand. "If you can hear the sirens, you're in the strike zone."
Their helicopter takes off and Hud spots a stealth bomber doing a bombing run; bombs explode, including direct hits on the monster, which vanishes in a cloud of dust and smoke. Hud cheers--prematurely, as the monster lunges and strikes the helicopter, which spins out of control and crashes. Our heroes survive the crash in Central Park and flee. Hud runs back for the camera, which he'd dropped--and finds himself facing the monster.
Scratch Hud, killed by the monster (we don't see exactly what happened to him, but it's strongly implied that he was bitten in half). Rob and Lily grieve over him for a few moments after the monster has moved on. Then Rob grabs the camera and they run, eventually taking shelter under a bridge in Central Park. They're both shellshocked and not really capable of much more at this point than huddling together to wait for whatever happens next.
What happens next is the sirens. Rob and Beth identify themselves in the video and tell one another that they love each other. A blast rattles the view, and the camera POV is surrounded by fallen rubble; a second, fiery blast lights up the scene and the film ends, save for a short segment (previously recorded, and recorded over by the party/monster footage) of Rob and Beth at Coney Island, ending with Beth saying "It was a good day."
Is the monster dead? You don't know. Are Rob and Beth dead? Almost certainly. Is Lily dead? Some viewers claim they saw Lily's helicopter also smoldering on the ground after Rob and Beth's crash, but I didn't see it. I like to think that Lily, at least, got out.
*The word "monster" is never, ever used in the film. I think that was a good choice. Simply to name the creature "monster" is to place it into a familiar mental box. We know what a monster is: a werewolf, a vampire, godzilla. We know what they are and what they can do. By never using that word, we're more likely to avoid putting the creature into a comfortable box. We're left to see it as the characters see it, an unprecedented, unpredictable, unknowable threat.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 10:50 pm (UTC)I... don't know if I'll see it in the theatre. Will probably wait for DVD even though this is exactly the kind of film I try to see in the theatre (special FX and all). Still, if it's as intense as your review indicates, I'm going to need the pause button lest it give me nightmares. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 01:01 am (UTC)If you can manage it, I'd say you ought to see it on the big screen. I don't imagine the special effects will be nearly as effective on a tv screen.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 04:17 am (UTC)I also know that it would probably disturb my sleep for many nights thereafter.
Did you ever see Brannagh's version of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein? Saw it on the big screen -- didn't sleep well for a week afterward. I saw Alien on the big screen too (in a creepy old theatre in Columbus OH -- much fun) and had similar difficulties.
So I'm cautious, these days. :) I get panicky and vicious without sleep....
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 03:43 am (UTC)~
I'd rather not be subject
Date: 2008-01-23 03:30 pm (UTC)Anyway, I've tagged you for a silly game. The rules are at my blog: http://kzmillers.blogspot.com/
I'd invite Snippy too but I was concerned that she wouldn't want her blog linked from mine. I worry about people's spaces, and don't want to be intrusive. Ironically, I don't mind stomping all over your space. Stomp stomp stomp.