Cloverfield

Remember when you were 10 or 11 years old and that remake of Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers came out? You know, I think it was called Independence Day. ID4. Since the release of that film, there were a slew of disastrous disaster films that followed. Independence Day was really the first real horrifying look into an evil alien invasion since the 1953 War of the Worlds. (Yes I know there was more in between.) The level of destruction in ID4 was amazing and visually stunning in all aspects. Watching the Empire State building getting leveled in one blast from a giant laser beam was just enough to send me as close to movie heaven as a 10 year old could get. As I grew older and more disaster movies came, left there imprint and left. SOme had good moments. SOme had great moment. But none of them really captured the feeling that that one remake did in 1996. Until recently. Upon seeing the trailers for Cloverfield AKA 1-18-08 I just about flipped. Normally, the video camera gimmick turns me of. Blair WItch never really interested me and the slew of copycats and youtube videos are most definitely a bore. Yet there was something special about this film/video. This isn't the unrevealing ghost footage you see on Sightings or those generic supernatural shows. This is a documented account of a giant thing attacking one of the nations most beloved cities and ripping the head off our symbol of freedom. Cloverfield not only meshed amazing special effects with crummy consumer video technology, but it also NEVER STOPPED! The intense sequence of creature destruction and characters in peril was constant and never had me slumping in my seat. The movie seemed to always throw a new curve and a new problem the characters had to overcome whether it be a a barrage of soldiers peppering an unrecognizable creature, or a building that contains a loved one that has fallen over and is resting on another building. Cloverfield was a movie experience I will never forget. The film may not have had a rock solid plot, but it fulfilled it's sole purpose; scare and thrill the way movies always should. Like most movies do now days, they make the film about the monster or event more than the people which causes everything to fall flat and get boring. Cloverfield keeps in close quarters with it's human characters and draws upon emotions that many of us in our nation have witnessed on TV or close to home. Yet Cloverfield doesn't rub a political or social message in our face. Yes we see buildings crumble in very 9/11 ways and bridges collapse with people on them, yet the movie stays true to its form and I believe lets the audience remember those real moments and choose to associate them if they desire. For me, it made the film all the more real and true. Cloverfield is the best monster movie in a decade.