CLOVERFIELD (PG-13)  ***

 

Directed by Matt Reeves. 84 minutes.

Starring Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Odette Yustman. Released by Paramount Pictures.

 

Hipsters and trust fund babies run for their lives in the long-awaited, much hyped and mostly impressive first-person home video monster movie from director Matt Reeves and producer JJ Abrams. Not quite the rebirth of cinema for which movie nerds were waiting nor the catastrophe that said nerds most recently worried would result after its unleashing on the world, Cloverfield is – not like it hasn’t been said before but… - horror in the age of You Tube. Part Godzilla, part Blair Witch Project and part The Hills, the film is at its best as its creature(s) of unknown origin lay waste to New York City, a town that has already been hit by every cinematic mode of destruction as well as a real one, and at its worst when its characters resort to jibber jabber.

 

The opening fifteen minutes might be the endurance test for aforementioned movie nerds as the film’s assortment of white, preppy characters blah blah blah and prepare to send off Rob (Michael Stahl David), who is about to leave for a high paying gig in Japan (Japan! Get it?). There’s Jason, Rob’s younger, nondescript brother; Lily; Jason’s boisterous girlfriend; Beth, Rob’s sort of girlfriend/sort of best friend who is better looking than any girl next door I’ve ever seen; Marlena, who’d more likely be caught sitting in the Anthology Film Archives than watching this film; and Hud, the class clown who is asked to record testimonials from the guests at Rob’s going away party. The party goes on. And on. And on.

 

A rumble is heard. NY1 reports an earthquake in lower Manhattan. A loud roar is heard and a massive explosion that is never quite explained rocks Midtown. The partygoers rush outside – it’s the terrorists! – to see the Statue of Liberty’s head being rolled down the street like a bowling ball and all hell breaks loose. It’s Cloverzillakong! This is where the film picks up because, come on, I could stand for a little less of Rob’s hipster bash and more of the intense, frightening hour of the film’s leads trekking their way to Columbus Circle, whilst avoiding Mothrafield and the legion of icky spidermajiggies that drop from its flesh. 9/11 is recalled with people wandering frightened in a dust-covered state. Poor taste, perhaps, but it works well enough. Scenes of minorities looting electronics stores – not so great.

 

Rob somehow enlists what’s left of his gang – a few are bumped off early on – to make a pilgrimage to rescue Beth from her posh apartment, which is 39 floors up in a now tilting building. Of course, being a movie, the gang agrees to walk through dark subway tunnels and have continued run-ins with the film’s rampaging monster. A scene on a roof during which Hud films the monster stomping through Manhattan is pretty damn creepy as is a close up of the creature in Central Park. Reeves manages to keep the creature well-hidden for most of the film, but this is okay because – and ya gotta give him credit – he sticks with his characters and only shows what they would likely see. Then again, would Hud really keep filming during all this melee? Who is this guy, Werner Herzog?

 

Cloverfield does what it is supposed to do well. Its characters are stick figures, so what? The film is intense, expertly paced and, for its not-so-whopping thirty million dollar budget, pretty impressive in the visual effects department. The film does a good job of capturing the sense of hysteria and panic during a wide scale emergency (OK, would Hud really be cracking jokes? Or filming? Who does he think he is, Francis Ford Coppola on the set of Apocalypse Now, dammit! I’m OK.) Manhattan is beaten to a pulp (again!) but in an impressive manner – the tilted buildings, the crumbling walls, flipped cars, etc. The film’s ending, perhaps, tries pushing the love story too hard when we only get snippets of it from previous video recordings, but all in all this is a solid genre film. The months of waiting are over, movie nerds. On to the next – Speed Racer and The Mummy 3 await!