By Jack and Dave
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Yo Dave!
So… Cloverfield – What were your thoughts? I was pleasantly surprised. Once I heard that the whole film was gonna be on a handheld camera, I was doubtful, to say the least. I mean, look how well that did for Blair Witch! But it wasn’t terrible. And Cloverfield is a film to see in the cinema if I ever saw one.
Jack.
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Hello Sir Jack
Unlike you, I never doubted the idea of Cloverfield being anything less than an avant-garde success. The idea of putting the camera right into the action is absolute genius; the personalisation of a global event. In these post 9/11 times, everything has become about the individual it seems, and it was nice to see this sort of mentality reflected in what was basically a silly monster movie. However, I think the movie would have been better if it less to do with monsters, and more to do with the personal tragedy that comes from disasters.
Dave.
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Da’diggely Dave!
Less to do with monsters and more to do with the personal tragedy? Really? That is a catastrophic mistake. One which I like to call the ‘Michael Bay effect’. Look at transformers. There you have a premise that consists of a super team of GIANT FUCKING ROBOTS and the film focused more on the human side of the story. Just in case you don’t see the problem here, let me reiterate – GIANT! FUCKING! ROBOTS! Now let’s not take Cloverfield for what it isn’t. The film is about a monster wreaking havoc. I understand that the film wouldn’t be nearly as good if it didn’t have the human aspect, the part that gives us something to relate with. But the monster wasn’t overdone. It wasn’t like they spent half the movie running from it directly, a major portion is spent avoiding the problems it causes. I digress; the sound in the movie was incredible. Screeching, twisting metal and thunderous roars – sounds designed to set the heart-a-beatin’ and the adrenaline-a-pumpin’.
Jack
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Sexy Jack
How dare you talk about Transformers in my presence! Transformers was a cynical load of CGI tripe. Yes, it focussed too much on the human side and not enough on the GIANT FUCKING ROBOTS (sic), but that only made the movie shit because the robots were so fucking cool and Shia LeBeouf was such a whingy little bastard. None of the human characters were fun in Transformers, just cut-out stereotypes (oh look, there’s a sexy girl who would never get off with Shia LeBeouf, but in the context of the movie she’s finds him hot because he talks to robots and inadvertently saves her life or something) whereas the characters in Cloverfield actually felt like they had a bit of depth and personality to them. Because of this, I wish Cloverfield had developed this a bit more. I agree with the sound in Cloverfield though; I think I may have shat my pants a little when I first heard the lizards roar.
Dave.
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DJ Jazzy Dave
So we both agree that Transformers was rubbish. To get back on topic – The CGI, what did you think? I thought it varied a lot. The explosions and environmental happenings were excellent, they fit seamlessly into the shaky footage. But the monster: not so much. It seemed like it was pulled out of Unreal Tournament. Not to say that unreal tournament graphics are bad, but there is a huge difference between computer game graphics and film effects. And the monster just looked out of place.
Jack
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Jack ma bitch
For once, I actually agree with you. The explosions fitted in perfectly with the shaky camera stuff, but the monster did look laughably poor in places. This, however, could be to do with the fact that monsters aren’t real, whereas explosions are.
Dave.
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Yo Fizzle my Nizzle Dave!
Are you joking? Of course monsters are real! They have photos and everything! The Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, the list goes on! Although I read somewhere that Bigfoot went into a spiral of drugs and depression after his fame in Harry and the Hendersons. Anyway, my final verdict – It is definitely worth seeing. But it has to be seen in the cinema! I can’t stress this enough. If you download* this film, or wait for it to come on DVD, then it will be an average film, merely quite enjoyable. In the cinema, with a screen the size of an orgy of elephants and booming surround sound, it becomes an epic experience.
*I do not condone illegal downloading.
Jack
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Tags: Blair witch, Cloverfield, JJ Abrams, Monster movie, Transformers
