 |
|
|
Star Ratings
 | Amazing |
 | Well good |
 | Fun |
 | Meh |
 | Rubbish |
Login
iFlicks on Twitter
| Cloverfield * * * * |
 |
 |
| Written by Ivan Radford |
| Friday, 01 February 2008 00:00 |
 Director: Matt ReevesWhat is Cloverfield? In short, it’s a giant monster. Where is it from? No idea. What’s its motivation? Not a clue. All we know for sure is it’s big, mean, and it can decapitate the Statue of Liberty from fifty paces. Which is rather intimidating. What we do get told about are the potential victims: there’s Rob (Stahl-David), a close friend of Beth (Yustman). He’s leaving for Japan tomorrow, so everyone’s round his place to say farewell, with Hud (Miller) filming the festivities. But Beth storms out after a fight with Bob over her new fella. While he’s calming down, the room starts to shake. Then the lights go out. And Miss Liberty’s head lands outside. Cue bedlam. Seen entirely through one handheld camera, Cloverfield takes a new angle on an established genre. Forcing us to confront the carnage, the visuals offer a uniquely visceral experience - a far cry from Blair Witch’s ineffective swear-fest. Our guide to this frenzied, first person fright-fest is Hud. Providing a humorous and sincere commentary, he anchors the audience as Rob strives to get back to Beth, who’s stuck on the other side of the town formerly recognisable as Manhattan. All of the cast are equally unknown, the actors’ anonymity bringing an extra sheen of immediacy to the terror. The only one you’ll recognise is Marlena (Caplan) - Janis from Mean Girls. They frantically skirt the edges of the rubble-strewn streets, heading for Central Park via teetering skyscrapers, collapsing bridges and shadowy metro tunnels. Constantly in the shadow of a nameless threat, they only pause to catch their breath or turn on the camcorder’s night vision. When the latter happens, you’ll wish it didn’t. In fact, you may never need laxatives again: at times, Cloverfield scares the crap out of you. VERDICT Exhilarating and petrifying, Cloverfield is one big shot of adrenaline to your eyeballs. As Janis might say, it’s so totally fetch. |
Add your comment
|
