Weekly Kaiju Movie Thread #57: Not a prime number

[MekaGojira3k]

[Henry88]

[MouthForWar]

[DannyBeane]

[klen7]

[Alpha OTS]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Alpha OTS]

[MouthForWar]

HEY, I just now watched this today... does that mean I'm not allowed to talk about it?

Cuz too bad. I'm going to anyway. Besides, barely anybody comes back to talk about these things after they watch them anyway.

Anyway, its been a few years, but after dusting off the DVD and watching it, I can safely say I think Cloverfield holds up. I do think that watching it on a television just isn't the same immersive experience that it was in the theater, but the movie still manages to be greatly entertaining.

I think it captures exactly what it set out to. The confusion and disorientation that one would go through in the middle of a kaiju attack is really brought to life here and made just as terrifying as you'd think it is. The people that complain about there not being an origin for the monster and things like that just don't seem to get what this movie is conceptually.

Another thing I really buy into is the love story. I think its realistic and I think if somebody truly loved someone, they would go back to find them amongst all the chaos. That's another thing a lot of people complain about that I just can't agree with (have these people never loved anybody?)- I also love how the tape is being taped over and you see the past through those little clips... its a really creative way of doing exposition in a film like this.

And the party scene is frighteningly identical to just about every going away party I've ever been to (minus the upscale downtown flat). Speaking of which, I remember there being a lot of complaints about the main characters being "yuppies"- which might be true, but I don't think that robs them of their humanity in a crisis situation, and it certainly doesn't make them hard to relate to since the conflict of the movie has nothing to do with their social status.

I also still really dig the monster. Its hard to remember, but back when this came out, this monster was really unique and interesting looking. Its only been ever since that a lot of movies have kind of ripped off the monster design here. Neville Page, who designed the monster even just recycles the Cloverfield monster over and over. But back when it came out, this creature was kind of a breath of fresh air, and he still holds up in the context of this film. For a monster that isn't shown a whole lot, he shows a lot of personality in how he stumbles around the city like a lost animal.

The only thing that really bothered me was Hud. Not only is this character horribly unfunny, but TJ Miller is by far the worst actor in this whole movie. Everything about him sucks. I wish he wasn't in this.

And of course, the Ifukube homage at the end is as fantastic as ever.

As the found footage movie that re-ignited that whole method of film making, it still holds up as one of the best films of that type... in my opinion, it IS the best. The approach of telling the story of the people who would normally just be the extras running from a monster attack is truly fresh and the found footage format perfectly captures all the confusion and chaos that those people would experience. And its made with great love for the Japanese monster movies. Direct homages to Gojira are sprinkled throughout, we have references to Japan here and there and we have a monster that truly can't be stopped. And the post-9/11 imagery is just as chilling now as it was then. With Pacific Rim out there, its only right that we don't forget about that OTHER American kaiju film. While Pacific Rim is a pure love letter to the genre, Cloverfield is an experimental post-9/11 film that is filtered through the sensibilities of a kaiju movie.


This movie really seems to be met with a lot of disdain in the kaiju fandom... and heck, even a little bit in the mainstream. And I really don't understand why at all... but whatever. For me, 5 years later, Cloverfield gets a 4/5 from me.