Cloverfield (2008)

If the found footage premise can be used for ghost hunters, documentaries about witches and exorcism, or an epidemic that is caught on every possible device that is capable of recording then why not a giant monster movie? Something like “Cloverfield”! As I have mentioned before, this is the kind of event that I could see myself trying to record every moment possible so it makes perfect sense that their camera is never turned off. “Cloverfield” easily had the largest budget of the seven films I reviewed for this week and that’s not surprising in the least; “Cloverfield” was meant to be a major block buster and it was. This is another found footage film that has a PG-13 rating; it’s what you don’t see that’s the scariest, and the shaky-cam and all of the chaos make it so that you never really get to see the monster in all of its glory.

Rob is leaving New York so he brother Jason is throwing him a big going away party. Jason’s girlfriend Lily wants everything filmed and asks Rob’s best friend Hud to record some testimonials from various guests. Hud doesn’t take the responsibility to heart and uses it as an excuse to hit on Marlena. Later on, Hud over hears Rob and Beth (an old platonic friend of Rob’s) fighting and discovers that they had slept together. As Hud and Jason try to console Rob, a large explosion is heard. Everyone at the party, as well as most of the other tenants in the apartment building, rush to the roof just in time to see another explosions happening in the harbor. Large burning pieces of debris flying across the sky towards the apartment building, forcing everyone out onto the street. Just as Rob and his friends are catching their breath, Hud records the head of the Statue of Liberty being thrown into a building and falling into the street only feet away. The group takes shelter in a mini-mart as the ground shakes, buildings start to crumble, and a cloud of dust and dirt flood the street. After the chaos settles, Rob and his friends try to leave New York by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge; while crossing, a giant tale crashes into the bridge and destroys it, killing Jason in the process.

With his brother dead and now trapped in the city, Rob decides that he has to try and save Beth, who happens to be trapped and injured in her apartment building in another part of town. The group makes their way towards Beth until they come across an army unit engaging the cause of the night’s events, a large monster of some kind that has smaller creatures dropping off of it and leaping towards the battalion. The group is able to take shelter in a subway station right before a large explosion happens. They begin to travel along the rail tracks in the dark and are overcome by the smaller creatures. Marlena is viciously scratched by one before they are able to find a supply room off of the tracks. They eventually find their way back to the street level and to an emergency center, where Marlena is quickly separated from the others…just before she explodes. Even after that, Rob is steadfast that he goes to Beth, forsaking an opportunity to be transported to safety; Lisa and Hud join him and their night only gets worse…

Favorite moment – The scene where the Statue of Liberty is tossed across the city like it was a baseball is really cool. When it lands, you can see large dents and scratches all across it. I also loved how real and natural it is that everyone standing around it begin to take out their phones and cameras and take pictures of it.