Watched Some Cloverfield Over the Weekend!

I got pretty pumped for this movie when I saw the commercials. The advertising had a good “end of the world” feel to it, and I love that stuff. As the release date came closer, however, I saw a review on the TV that described the movie as filmed a lot like the Blair Witch Project. At that moment, I knew I would be waiting for DVD or cable. While a clever film and a triumph of marketing on a low budget, Blair Witch actually made me motion sick when I saw it in the theater.

Cloverfield came out on DVD last week, and Dan Brandt (Press Gang Quartermaster) lent me his copy for the weekend. I really enjoyed the movie, but I will say that the carnage done to New York City can only be rivaled by the debut of Gossip Girl! Historians will decide whether the devastation in the wake of a large monster or that caused by power-hungry prep school girls resulted in more damage to the public psyche.

I thought the image of the Statue of Liberty head in the street made a nice homage to Escape from New York, and I think that the monster played well. The small glimpses you get leave you hungry to see more, and I really think the DVD should have come with a 360-rotational model that I could check out on my TV—or maybe someone should make a video game where you play the monster. I also dug the way the monster moved. Those inverted elbows were pretty creepy, and I just longed to stare at that thing for a while so I can check out all of its detail.

J.J. Abrams seems to enjoy producing work that leaves you wondering. With Cloverfield, I still have questions darn it! Where does that thing come from? Are there more? What does it want? Is the Government covering that thing up? It’s just like watching “Lost”—I need some answers!

For a while, my mind entertained a battle between Cloverfield and the Smoke Monster from “Lost”, but I’m not sure how interesting it would be to watch an alien try and fight a pile of smoke.

I even enjoyed some of the insight that the special features gave me. Abrams talked about wanting to give America its own monster like Godzilla, and some of the creatives that worked on the film spoke about the monster’s motivations and background. The insight into the monster almost made me feel sorry for the big, ugly, man-eating thing.

Watching jets and infantry take on the monster was pretty cool and actually somewhat along the lines of what I wanted to see out of Jurassic Park II. (I think watching a squad of tanks versus a horde of dinosaurs could have been pretty awesome.)

That is exactly the action we have in Monsterpocalypse. Monsters try to Rampage and Stomp units while those valiant units coordinate counterattacks against the monsters in defense of secured buildings. Cloverfield even came with his own collection of units to “hold” and “secure” specific agendas throughout New York City while attacking the military guys trying to protect areas of the city. The only missing “Monsterpocalypse moment” would have been for another monster emerge from Hudson Bay and have the two tangle in a no-holds-bared New York City street fight—a cool street fight though, not one of those street fights from West Side Story.

Seeing a well-produced movie like Cloverfield dealing with the subject matter that we tackle in Monsterpocalypse both inspires and feeds the creative process, but Monsterpocalypse has also increased my enjoyment of the large monster movie genre. It creates a self-perpetuating energy spiral that can only increase the awesomeness of the product. Once you get your hands on Monsterpocalypse, you’ll be able to reenact all your favorite big-screen, city-smashing giant monster moments…just on a slightly smaller scale and in the safety of your own home!

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