Cloverfield (minor spoilers)

A review by Dom A.

I just saw Cloverfield last night and if you haven't seen it, stop reading now and see it. It's amazing. I don't want to go in-depth but it's nice to see some originality and something new when most of the movies released now are remakes, sequels or based off books. Being in the perspective of the group of friends makes the movie so much more engaging. The story is just about that group trying to find another friend. That's it. You don't see scientist trying to figure out what the monster is, you don't see the military planning out attacks, or what the moster is doing through out the movie. You see what the camera sees. This point of view makes everything more intense. During some parts of the film, I was like "Holy Shit!! This is crazy!!" It was like being on a roller coaster. I don't think any other camera view would have created that much emotion and even work for this type of movie.

One of my favorite parts of the movie is Hud, the guy behind the camera. The things he says are hilarious. There's a part when the group is in the subway tunnel and he starts talking about the guy who would light homeless guys on fire. It's pitch black and he says, "Man, I'm just scared a flaming homeless guy is going to jump out and attack us". Hilarious! I also like how they capture our human nature to love. From Rob wanting to find Beth, Jason always trying to be by Lily's side, and Hud's small crush on Marlena. I know if anything like that happened to where you live, whether it be a natural disaster or a monster attack, the first thing you would want to do is make sure the people you love are ok. I know I would.

For the monster itself, there is no origin story in the movie but there is a Magna about its origins. It's all in Japenese so I don't know what is means. You supposedly see a meteor hit the water at the end of the "tape" but I didn't see it myself so I don't know. The monster is kind of hard to describe so go see the movie to see for yourself.

Speaking of which, stay until the end of the credits. There is a short sound bite at the end. It sounds static so it's hard to understand. What I got from it was "It's still alive". I know I heard "alive". From Mark's observation about the numbers 36-12-18 being a date (12-18-2036), could the monster still be alive all that time? Could it be that the parasites grow to become that big? Is earth being overtaken by this (or these) things? Who knows? That's what so good about the movie- it ended leaving the audience thinking the moster died but there are so many unanswered questions. I don't want a sequel to be made. It's a good stand alone film. Go watch Cloverfield. You will be pleased. (The shaking camera didn't bother me)


Let me know what you guys think that sound bite at the end was? Post to comments.