Cloverfield - aka 1-18-08 (here come the SPOILERS)

[Chris]

[mr.negativity]

It's amazing what they did with a $25 million budget.

[TheMaster]

[JordanGLC]

[Mac]

[mr.negativity]

[Stadawim]

We went last night and saw it. I figured if it really turns out to be one of the few monster movies to make it to the big screen of late, i had better catch it and let my boy catch it as well.

Well, it scared the bejeezus outta my son! Not throughout, just some moments. Ironically, those moments happened to be the ones with the parasitic, smaller monsters in them. And being the monster freak i am, i have to admit to wanting to see more of the monster. I literally had to hold myself in check during the course of the movie by reminding myself "this is how they wanted to do it and how it would be filmed by a Joe Blow from Kokomo so go with it".

You have to go into it with that mentality to fully enjoy it. My son kept trying to draw the inevitable Godzilla comparisons. And of course there is some. The monster itself looks like Orga and has semi-Megaguirus-style parasites. But a huge difference is this one is shot PoV - which is what makes it as scary has it is. You don't see giant panoramic shots of the battle between man & monster; you see what Joe Blow is filming. So if said monster is bearing down on you while you're running from it, guess what? You don't see it.

This movie will definitely put horror back into the monster movie genre. And the ironic part of that is - semi-realistic human drama is now construed as horror! If you take this film at that value. Now i'm not going to go into details and questions (even though i have a couple), i'm going to wait until more people see it. I will say if you get motion sick due to jostling cameras, you might want to read the book .

There should be no immediate plans for a sequel to this if they do it right. This is a touchy genre, and people are already used to Godzilla coming back over and over. They need to let the hysteria (as it were) of this one penetrate audiences enough so demand may require a sequel. Other than that i think they accomplished what they set out to do so they should leave it (and that is actually hard for a monster freak to type!).


Additional notes: 1= i saw nothing splashing down into the water in the last part of the film as one or two previously mentioned and i was even looking out there expecting something (i may have just missed it); 2= i stayed beyond the end credits - what is supposed to be there? All i noticed was additional camera/film static; 3= The romance angle is SOOO lame, but i guess they were trying to appeal to a more diverse audience.

[GhostMachine]

The static is supposedly a voice saying "Its still alive" at the end.

[Dr Kain]

The more I think about it, the more I liked it overall.

Now I heard that in the video at the end when it cuts to Beth and Rob on the ferris wheel (or wherever they are), you see the birth of the monster in the background. Anyone know if there is truth to that?

However, I would like to see a sequel that is done as if it were a regular monster movie. That would be friggin awesome.

[GhostMachine]

[gforever]

I have mix feelings on this but if the monster was Godzilla, this would have been 100X better! The monster design is not likable like Godzilla's. My friend didn't like the movie that much and a ton of people a lot of people in the back were saying this movie was crap. sigh......

Although it made the movie very realistic, I didn't like how the move was shaking sooo much as I got a headache from the film. The beginning 20 mins was a bit long for an intro.

On the plus side, this is somewhat original and what the G'98 film could have been. However, it seems like this film took a page from G'84.


SPOILERS


Those dog sized parasites are just like the Shockirus aka giant sea louse.

The monster did look like an anorexic Orga with a few extra limbs. I wish there were more shots of the monster and more of the streets action. They spent too much time in the tunnels but again, thats probably where you would go if it was real.

I kinda wished they explained the monster more but I guess this will be done in the possible sequel? What would have been cool if it was done as a regular movie and the military found this tape. And they watch the film to analyze the monster and then it lead to a final battle.

What I'm curious is why did they use so many references to Japan? G-Fans definitely should see this! and hopefully Toho will also get involved and allow Godzilla to fight this Cloverfield monster! I'd love to see a monster fight done in this style.

However, I think I saw a post saying that on Kadokawa's website, there was a flash saying Cloverfield? So maybe Gamera will save the day in the next movie. hahaha

[GhostMachine]

Here's my idea for the sequel:

The movie starts off where the first movie left off and shows the military battling the monster...and losing. Eventually the monster decides to leave of its own accord and heads off into the ocean....

1 year later, New York has rebuilt, except repairs are still going on on the Statue of Liberty. The monster resurfaces, but its made a critical error: Chuck Norris is in town!

[Legion]

This movie has been open for one day and people are already thinking sequel. How exactly do you make a sequel to a film like this without destroying what apparently is making it so popular in the first place? Either you do another film done in the "shaky camera" style that feels like a complete rerun or you end up with something entirely different that doesn't have the uniqueness that everyone is so positive about.

And some of you guys really need to stop comparing this monster to Godzilla. Why exactly did they say this creature would be "our Godzilla" anyway if it's obviously nothing at all like Godzilla?

And I'd rather Godzilla and Cloverfield be kept in their own separate worlds, gforever.

[kiryugoji04]

[Pkmatrix]

I saw it and I loved it.

The movie does a great job evoking the horror of the situation by making the story personal. There was a whole lot of military vs. monster action, although you only get good views of it toward the end of the film.

Going into this, I expected there to be few if any real shots of the monster... I THOUGHT we would see nothing more than an arm here, a foot there for 75% of the move and then some disappointing full shots at the end. Wow, was I wrong! We get full, nearly unobstructed views very early in the rampage, get up close and personal with it, and some awesome long shots toward the end! ^_^ Being from New Jersey, and being so familiar with Manhattan, it was a bit unsettling to places I've been to being leveled so realistically and casually... the filmmakers did an awesome job evoking that sense of dread, helplessness, and utter annihilation you get from the original Godzilla, only they made it more personal and emotional (at least for me) by setting it in New York.

Man, I'm still gushing. I think I'll go see it again tomorrow night!

[Legacy_Of_Gamera]

LOL look at this user's rant on the movie - most of the things she hates about the movie weren't even the movie's fault.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DaN9ONd8Qpg

[TheMaster]

[Robert Saint John]

[TheMaster]

^ And believe me Rob thats means alot coming from an old fart like me.
I can't STAND MTV, Youtube, Myspace and self absorbed millenials. However in this age, people of all walks do stuff like that(capture everything on video). And had something like this happened in this day and age(look at our media and how we catch everything on video, from reality TV to celebs caught on camera), it seems exactly like it would have "gone down".

[MouthForWar]

[MouthForWar]

[Shonokin]

[TheMaster]

[MouthForWar]

[Robert Saint John]