Our picks for what to watch this week include a shocking true story, a second season with lots of unanswered questions, and a murderous musical episode.
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Title: Cloverfield (2008)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Lizzy Caplan | ... | Marlena Diamond | |
| Jessica Lucas | ... | Lily Ford | |
| T.J. Miller | ... | Hudson 'Hud' Platt | |
| Michael Stahl-David | ... | Rob Hawkins | |
| Mike Vogel | ... | Jason Hawkins | |
| Odette Annable | ... | Beth McIntyre (as Odette Yustman) | |
| Anjul Nigam | ... | Bodega Cashier | |
| Margot Farley | ... | Jenn | |
| Theo Rossi | ... | Antonio | |
| Brian Klugman | ... | Charlie | |
| Kelvin Yu | ... | Clark | |
| Liza Lapira | ... | Heather | |
| Lili Mirojnick | ... | Lei | |
| Ben Feldman | ... | Travis | |
| Elena Caruso | ... | Party Goer | |
To celebrate Rob's massive promotion, his lover, Beth, and friends, decide to throw a massive surprise farewell party, now that he is about to move to Japan. However, a deafening explosion and the arrival of an enormous scaly and gangly creature will abruptly interrupt the festivities, as all hell breaks loose in New York City, and the Statue of Liberty is decapitated. As the reptilian behemoth levels Manhattan, a daring dash to rescue Beth begins, while at the same time, everything is recorded through the lens of a hand-held camcorder, amid mayhem and destruction. In the end, where did this relentless invader come from, and above all, is there a chance of survival? As they go to investigate, an adventure deep into the streets of New York begins, as the friends are determined to rescue Rob's true love. Written by Nick Riganas
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Some people have derisively compared this film to The Blair Witch Project because it was all told from the point of view of someone's shaking camera. Unless you have motion sickness, I don't think that's a bad thing. What matters is who's in front of the camera. While The Blair Witch Project featured annoying people screaming at each other, this movie actually made me care about the characters. In fact if it had continued with the romantic drama tone established during the first half hour, I STILL think it would have been worth watching and that's the biggest compliment I can give it.
Of course people will be watching this movie for the visceral pleasure and Colverfield delivers. Many thrilling visual and sound effects wowed me (there were a few times I yelled out in shock at a sudden scare). Any horror film will also benefit from a sense of entrapment and this movie pulls off the seemingly impossible feat of making New York City seem claustrophobic because there was seemingly nowhere to hide from the monster.
What is the monster? Whatever it is clearly is meant to be an allegory for the carnage 9/11 inflicted on New York, much the same way Godzilla was meant to be an allegory for the damage inflicted on Japan by the atom bomb. There are moments seemingly recreating the documentary footage from 9/11, and they give the film verisimilitude. Touching upon real life horror, plus creating characters that we can relate to and care about, and assaulting our senses with incredible sights and sounds leads to entertainment worth watching many times over. Perhaps the 80 minute run time will bother some people, but on the other hand I think that's better than a film wearing out its welcome. Great job J.J. Abrams and company!