Cloverfield (2008)

Director:

Matt Reeves

Writer (WGA):

Drew Goddard (written by)

Release Date:

18 January 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Some Thing Has Found Us

Plot:

Revolves around a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people.

Plot Keywords:

Camera Man | Fluorescent Lamp | Manhattan | Decapitation Of Statue | Television News

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Lizzy Caplan	...	Marlena
Jessica Lucas	...	Lily
T.J. Miller	...	Hud
Michael Stahl-David	...	Rob Hawkins
Mike Vogel	...	Jason Hawkins
Odette Yustman	...	Beth McIntyre
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

Also Known As:

1-18-08 (USA) (promotional title)
Cheese (USA) (fake working title)
Clover (USA) (fake working title)
Monstrous (USA) (promotional title)
Slusho (USA) (fake working title)
Untitled J.J. Abrams Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images.

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Denmark:15 | France:U (with warning) | South Africa:13V (13LV) | New Zealand:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44015) | UK:15 | Iceland:14 | Hong Kong:IIA | Germany:12 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Ireland:15A | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Japan:PG-12 | Norway:15 | Brazil:14 | Czech Republic:15 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Malaysia:U | Australia:M | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Finland:K-13

Filming Locations:

Bloomingdale's Department Store, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Bad Robot

Trivia:

JJ Abrams has used the number 47 extensively on past projects. In "Alias" (2001), the number played a great importance as a page on Rambaldi's manuscript, and as a recurring pointer to important motifs. It should come as no surprise that "Cloverfield" is the designation to the case of the images found on Area US-447. Also, in the scenes where they're taking the stairs up to the top of the skyscrapers to save Beth, one of the floor numbers filmed is the 47th.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the subway tunnel scenes, Rob's shirt seems to clean itself. At first it is dirty and sweat stained, then it is relatively clean, and then it is dirty again.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rob Hawkins: It's 6:42 AM. Beth's dad's place. He's out of town. And it's already a good day.

Movie Connections:

References "Lost" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Cleanup In Aisle 19

The First Great Monster Film of the Century

If you haven't heard by now Cloverfield is a film about a giant monster attacking Manhattan all seen through the perspective of a 20-something's hand-held camera. The film has been hyped for months via viral marketing, JJ Abrams fan boys, and media coverage/ monster speculation. Did it live up to the hype? The answer is OH GOD YES Cloverfield is by far the most intense monster film I have ever seen in my lifetime, after the initial 15 minutes of character introduction and whatnot the film does not go 5 minutes without a HOLY CRAP moment. Constantly driving you to the edge of your seat at every turn and it really pulls no punches, I was surprised to learn it was rated PG13. Now the film is entirely filmed in shaky cam since you cant really survive a monster attack pushing a trolley around and it just works, you may get motion sickness though so be warned. The camera itself becomes a character of the film as it IS the viewer making everything happening on-screen more and more realistic. Now the acting is amateur but thats for the best considering that the film would have made no sense if they had used big name actors/actresses, the characters are not that deep either and mostly serve as fodder, comic relief, moral guidance, panic, commentary, puzzlement, a little bit of annoyance, in other words they're people surviving a monster attack. The presentation is brilliant, the only music heard is in the party and at the ending credits and the special effects are some of the most seamless stuff you'll ever see in a film. The monster itself is actually not seen in its entirety only being viewed from different angles for the audience to piece it together as the survivors themselves are, you pretty much know as much as they do about everything going on making you actually feel like you're there. Critics compare the film to Blair Witch meets Godzilla but it is so much more than that, Cloverfield is the definitive American Monster Film, best if seen on the opening weekend just to hear the audience's reactions not to mention the presentation is far greater on the big screen, watch it again to see the things you missed or just to enjoy the ride again, admittedly the shock value will wane with multiple viewings but for what it's worth Cloverfield is an excellent piece of film and special effect engineering and is the first great monster film of the millennium. Its also downright scary at parts. 8/10