CLOVERFIELD: Dru's Take

a not so in-depth review by Andrew "Alejandro" Bueno.

At exactly a 90-minute running time, the J. J. Abrams-produced, Matt Reeves-directed film
makes you wonder as you sit before the movie, "Is this going to be worth it?"

Maybe.

What kind of film were you expecting? Here's my little breakdown:

GOOD!
+ Story. Just like something J.J. would be associated with, you're given a set of characters put in a situation where the importance is in the present action, not in some wild back-story. As it's been stated before, no one knows the history of the monster. What? When? Where (from)? Why? Mr. Reeves and company don't give a shit- and it's wonderful

+ All the videogame references: The cameraman Hud (or head's up display), the helicopter scene where you're going up to look down upon the monsters path of destruction, the insane belief that you can trek up one building and climb over to the other, even the theory that the title CLOVERFIELD was the name of a level in Rampage, a videogame about monsters destroying cities.

+ The viral marketing campaign. Damn that shit went beautifully and had everyone hungry to see the movie.

+ What really happened in this scene:



BAD!
- Beth had a little less than 2' of rebar sticking out of her left chest cavity. Didn't that completely fuck her up? A minute or two later, homegirl's running fine in the street.

- The abrupt ending. (Some may have thought this was a plus. Personally, na uhh.) The running time comes in at a short 90 minutes. When I see movies, I want at least 91. (=

- I felt misled as I was hoping this was a monster movie, not a love story. It does revolve around the fact that there's a monster running around and reeking havoc, but the story is centered about some dude trying to find his one-night-stand. I wanted more monster dammit. The monster should have been the star, not Rob and Beth. Look at you two! You killed all your friends!

So hopefully no sequel happens. It was a fun stand-alone flick, but studios give a shit when you make around $20 Million on your opening night.

Things to think about:

Were we watching the film as people in the future viewing the evidence of the attack from this memory card's data -OR- were we a government body watching the documented footage. The president? DARPA? Survivors? Is the monster still running amok as we "watch" the film? Pay attention to the beginning of the film next time.