Cloverfield opens with a recovered camcorder and a title card from the Department of Defense. The tape was found in the area “formerly known as Central Park.” Matt Reeves’s 2008 film runs 85 minutes and never lets the camera rest.
Trailer, via TrailerInHD.
A Farewell Party on May 22, 2008
Rob Hawkins is leaving for Japan. His brother Jason and Jason’s girlfriend Lily throw him a surprise party in Lower Manhattan. Jason asks Rob’s best friend Hud to film testimonials. Hud, played by T.J. Miller in his film debut, keeps the camera rolling.
Beth McIntyre arrives upset. She and Rob argue about his silence after their one-night stand, and she leaves. Then the ground shakes. A citywide power outage follows. The news reports a capsized oil tanker near Liberty Island.
The Statue of Liberty’s Head
The partygoers climb to the roof and see an explosion. Flaming debris flies at them. As they leave the building, the severed head of the Statue of Liberty is thrown into the city and lands in the street nearby. Hud records an enormous creature collapsing the Woolworth Building blocks away.
The group takes cover in a convenience store. Outside, they find Marlena Diamond, covered in dust and in shock. She says the creature was “eating people.”
Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge
Rob gets a call from Beth. She is trapped in her apartment at the Time Warner Center. The group tries to evacuate Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge. The creature destroys the bridge and kills Jason.
The film’s best trick is the camera itself. Hud films because he is told to. The found-footage style makes the destruction feel close. Reeves directed from a script by Drew Goddard.
What the Casting Secret Cost
Paramount greenlit the project in secret in February 2007. Casting followed the same rule. No scripts went to candidates. Actors read scenes from J.J. Abrams’s earlier shows, Alias and Lost, instead of anything from this film.
Lizzy Caplan took the role of Marlena without knowing the premise. She was a fan of Lost. She later said she would not sign onto a film again “without knowing full well what it is.” She called Marlena a sarcastic outsider and the part “physically demanding.”
The Monster Called Clover
Neville Page designed the creature, known as Clover. Working titles included:
- Slusho
- Cheese
- Greyshot
The film earned $172.4 million worldwide against a $25 million budget.
What holds up:
- The 85-minute runtime
- Hud’s camera as the only point of view
- The bridge sequence
What does not:
- The characters stay thin
- The viral campaign was better than the payoff
Cloverfield is a lean, clever machine that mistakes confusion for dread. The marketing promised a mystery; the film delivers a ride. It is worth watching once.
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