Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, 2008)

Region 1 Paramount (USA)
NTSC, 1.85:1 16x9 enhanced
84 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, French, Spanish
Extras: audio commentary by director Matt Reeves; deleted scenes and alternate endings with audio commentary; Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield; Cloverfield Visual Effects; I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge!; Clover Fun; previews for other movies

Released: 22 April 2008
keepcase
16 chapters

The Jason Bourne movies accelerated the rhythms of the gun-and-edit style and managed to draw critical acclaim even though other gun-and-edit directors (such as Michael Bay and Tony Scott) draw critical ire. The folks who made Mission: Impossible III and Casino Royale (2006) clearly emulated the Bourne visual style even though those franchises started before Matt Damon’s interpretation of Jason Bourne appeared in theatres. J.J. Abrams, the director of MI3, seems intent on pushing the limits of gun-and-edit to the point of incoherence.

J.J. Abrams produced but didn’t direct Cloverfield, and the movie owes more of a debt to The Blair Witch Project than to the Jason Bourne series. Still, the movie is obviously a reflection of Abrams’s interest in sci-fi and fantasy as well as predilection for gun-and-edit. In Cloverfield, a giant monster attacks New York City one night, and that night’s events are captured on a video camera by a bunch of young people. The video is played as if it was footage recovered by the U.S. Army, and the Department of Defense is conducting research.

The movie is a nauseating mess. I literally almost threw up several times even though I was watching it at home on a small TV screen. I probably would’ve passed out had I seen this in a movie theatre. The herky-jerky cinematography is atrocious in the extreme, and I guesstimate that I must’ve not comprehended at least 50% of the images that I saw.

It’s probable that the filmmakers meant for the movie to be disorienting and “realistic”, but I don’t understand what the point is of making a fake documentary about a completely unrealistic premise. A fake documentary about terrorists attacking an American city or a fake documentary about war? Sure, no problem. A fake documentary about Godzilla’s bosom buddy? Who cares?

The movie’s value is further decreased by a script that focuses on shallow characters and by flat acting. The fellas playing soldiers have such awful line readings that I chortled despite my intense dizziness.

I took one for the team with this movie, peeps. Please don’t subject me to this kind of visual style ever again.

Video:
The low-res, dimly-lit 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen image looks terrible, though be advised that the digital compression artifacts are mostly intentional.

Audio:
Here’s where the movie cheats big time. We’re supposed to be watching footage from someone’s video camera, right? To my knowledge, cheap consumer cameras don’t have awesome microphones that can record multi-channel surround sound with deep bass. Therefore, the DD 5.1 English track, while impressively immersive and thunderous, is a lie. I would’ve been able to accept 5.1 sound if the entire movie was literally based on a person’s real perspective (i.e. his/her eyes), but for what it is meant to simulate, Cloverfield is a fraud.

You can also watch the movie with DD 5.1 French and DD 5.1 Spanish dubs. Optional English, French, and Spanish as well as optional English closed captions support the audio.

Extras:
Upon loading, the disc plays previews for Star Trek and Indiana Jones 4.

Director Matt Reeves contributed an audio commentary. Sorry, I didn’t try to listen to it as I didn’t want to watch the movie again.

There are four deleted scenes and two alternate endings with optional audio commentary by Matt Reeves. The deleted scenes are entirely superfluous, and the alternate endings are really lame (just short snippets to replace the Ferris Wheel ending).

“Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield” is a general overview of the production. Much is made of the secrecy surrounding the script, but the secrecy was meant to build buzz for a bankrupt concept, not because the story was genuinely surprising.

“Cloverfield Visual Effects” and “I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge!” are two featurettes that reveal the computer work that was involved in destroying Manhattan.

“Clover Fun” is a gag reel.

Knowing J.J. Abrams and Company, the disc probably has a couple of Easter Eggs. Sorry, I didn’t bother looking for them. I went out for a nice long walk after I watched the Extras.