Cloverfield

by Brian Zitzelman

The best band on the planet is on stage. The first song begins, the crowd goes nuts and you are standing there in bliss. The band is on tonight, motivated and at the top of their game. Onto the stage comes a random man, about 25 in age. The unnamed man steps to an open microphone and yells, "Hey!" three times. It is pointless and quite annoying. The band plays on. A minute later, the stranger yells out again, doing so with increased frequency until the show ends 90 minutes later. Turns out the concert, which had all the elements of being a classic, was butchered by one lone babbling idiot. That idiot is Hud, who also just so happens to be in Cloverfield.

Directed by Matt Reeves and written by Drew Goddard, under the producing supervision of geek-god J. J. Abrams, Cloverfield is expected to be 2008's first big blockbuster. The premise is simple, a gigantic monster shows up, eats people and Manhattan, all on the same night as Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) is having his farewell party before moving to Japan. The first reel of Cloverfield is set up, meeting Rob, the women he loves Beth (Odette Yustman), his friends and so on. Here we meet Hud, played by T. J. Miller. Hud is Rob's best friend. He also seems like a reject out of American Pie : The Naked Mile. The conceit of Cloverfield is that the entire picture is shot from one video camera, filming the entire night's events. Hud is the audiences guide for the majority of the picture and truly, deeply, sincerely - he may be the most irritating and grating film character in years. Hud likes boobs, saying improper things and being a total idiot.

All of which is a damn shame, for the core structure of Cloverfield is, if not fantastic, close to it. The technical presentation is flawless, perhaps not the most inspired, but unwavering. The effects are seamless, the sound design powerful and the editing tight. At a brisk 90 minutes, Cloverfield rarely wastes its time and ignores the alleged rule that longer equals more epic and thus better. Beyond the digital wonders, the picture is impressively acted, particularly by Michael Stahl-David. A natural flow is had, aided by Goddard's script, which may contain its share of cliches, yet, presents them honestly and believably. The movie is not a character piece and does not need to be. One roots for Rob on the simple matter of he appears to be a nice guy. Nothing more is required.

When the Manhattan massacring takes hold, Cloverfield kicks into gear, with tanks stampeding down city streets and the skyline lighting up with jets, missiles and a heap of debris. However, the initial moments of monstering ring uncomfortably, with hundreds of New Yorkers fleeing collapsed buildings, smoke and ash hounding them. Destroying New York is a longtime movie standard and I do not fault Abrams and company for continuing the tradition but the specific visuals used comes off as misguided and perhaps disrespectful.

Amidst the chaos, Rob gets a call from Beth, trapped in her apartment a few miles away. Ignoring all evacuation orders and the gunfire surrounding him, Rob and company plow on to rescue his love. The journey is at times frightening, troubling and somber. All of it manages to click nicely into place, with Reeves aka Hud's camera capturing the bedlam and havoc. Visually, Cloverfield is rich and memorable while the creative team ignores the need to explain everything, embracing the man on the street perspective.

Sadly, Hud remains. Each moment the movie slows down to take a breath, Hud talks. Hud talking is bad. Hud talking is annoying. Hud talking is incessant. The decision for Hud to be a rambling generic white male echoes of insecurities in the script - as if Goddard was unsure an audience would embrace the ride and thus placed in a wise-cracking, ready to hit on anything that moves dude, so the quiet moments don't fall flat. The move backfires ferociously. Tender scenes are intruded upon, terror is disconnected and Hud still blathers on. Any of Cloverfield's pacing is ripped apart and genuine immersion into the picture is immobilized at every turn. One spends more time desiring Hud to shut up rather than getting caught up in the moment. What Cloverfield stands as is a failed opportunity, a bit of cinema that could have been classic but fell into the pretty good.