cloverfield – 5 stars

i wondered aloud to jessica on the way home if this film was conceived before the fall of 2001 and postponed due to sensitivity, or in the years since, now that an acceptable distance has grown between that terrifying incident and the present in which this film occurs. a quick wikipedia check seems to suggest the latter, as well as including a summary of what various critics thought of the comparisons between this monster movie and those monstrous realities.

if you ask me, anyone who uses the parallels in plot and imagery as an excuse to dismiss this movie is missing the point, because this movie isn’t about ‘a horrible thing that happens to some poor new yorkers, that sorta resembles real events’. that would have been in poor taste, and yes, cheap.

but this is a movie about fear, plain and simple. the current world climate of anxiety feeding into it is merely a symptom of the times; it’s only one factor that contributes to the overwhelming, confusing state of pure terror these characters find themselves in.

through a well-executed handheld style that embodies that confusion, you’re sucked right into this emotional rollercoaster for 90 minutes of nail-biting and breath-holding. the building moments of ‘what’s happening here?’ uneasiness turn into ‘oh my god this is bad’ grief and sadness. the ‘what the fuck do we do now?’ uncertainty slowly becomes a ‘this is crazy but i have to get through this’ intensity.

seeing — or in most cases, barely glimpsing; or only seeing once it’s too late — exactly what you’d see if you were trapped as they are by the circumstances serves to translate the fear better than any monster or horror movie since the blinking dot snuck up on the unfortunate alien crew member. i left this movie literally exhausted and shaky from how much i felt every brutal beat of this story in my own body.

the obvious blair witch comparison both helps and hurts this movie; i’ll admit to really liking that film as well for pulling me in and truly scaring me. but i’d describe that as an experiment in unsettling creepiness, the fear of the unknown. here, it becomes clear very quickly that what you’re afraid of, what you’re running from, hiding from, fighting off successfully or unsuccessfully, is right there, in your face, and real no matter how much you wish it was a nightmare. as far as telling a full and satisfying story, this film far surpasses its predecessor.

a real credit to the people behind this project. a brilliant concept — monster movie from the perspective of the man on the street running in terror — was pulled off impressively when it could have been a disappointment. a genre so full of predictably ‘unpredictable’ scare moments or token gore is given a refreshing jolt of real emotion. and even the monster itself is new and interesting. kudos all around.

one word to the wise though. if you leave the theatre right after this movie and go up to the grove parking garage, as we did, watch out for an oncoming car driving over some metal grating and making a loud THUMP THUMP noise as it passes; you might almost shit your pants and look around you for explosions. the movie’s that good.