RSS FeedCloverfield Kicked Ass
Posted on January 24, 2008, 3:55 PM in Movies
I saw CLOVERFIELD earlier in the week and absolutely loved it. Visceral, thrilling and tense.
I remember when THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT divided the nation into factions who got what was brilliant and frightening about it... and those who bitched at the shaky cam and/or lack of actual things on screen to be scared of. I won't get into the merits of showing what we're scared of versus keeping it off-screen (I, personally, think BLAIR WITCH was one of the scariest movies I've probably seen in my adult life)... but I do see some people bitching and moaning about the handheld cameras... again. Which... well, you just missed the point if you think this aspect should've been left out.
I thought Blair Witch blew chunks cause of the characters themselves, which I think Cloverfield did so much better. These cats I actually worried/was tense with, as opposed to those damn campers.
And besides... Cloverfield had killer giant crabs! I mean COME ON!
Well, that's fair. But I actually read one review that completely trashed the CF characters for not being interesting or sympathetic enough (which is bullshit, imo)... and yet another that made some high-minded point about how these characters being vapid and/or cardboard-ish was a statement of some sort... which ascribes way too much to the film, if you ask me. Still, amazing that something this accessible and fun could also provoke such insight and discussion.
I was scared for those BW kids though. They weren't professional actors but the co-directors got, I thought, very good performances out of them. It was so over-exposed, and spoofed in that first "Scary Movie" film, but when she had the camera up to her face and was crying because she was so afraid, I felt that...
Crabs were cool, yes... "We've got a bite!"