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.
