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Our Score: 9/10
Rated: 9.27 from 10
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REVIEW
I personally did not think I would relate with the characters or feel
immersed in their situation or stories, but I did. The dialog was
incredibly off the cuff and realistic, the relationships very easy to
relate to right down to the love interest with Beth. Perhaps at that
age many of us were in love with a girl like Beth who got away. But I
digress.
I thought this movie was incredible, and hopefully it will have a
sequel to continue the story. A sequel would definitely help to
bring out more of the story and answer
questions people will have about what they witnessed
in Cloverfield.
The way i saw it, it was perfectly designed. It was set up to be a very
personal video the kind that so many kids are
into right now, its what drives myspace, and youtube, etc...
It's really what this generation is all about, talking about our lives with video,
and thats why Abrams did it. To reach out to that audience who could relate.
It felt just right to me, not cliche. And it worked because there was
deeper ideas at work than simply making a buck on a monster movie.
As Abrams said at Comic Con: "We need a monster movie"
And he was right. America has needed this.
A cathartic experience to focus our energies, to humble us after 911,
and how it rocked our world, rocked us out of our blissful ignorance.
And what better way to do it than with the tools of our generation?
Videoblogging, cameraphone documenting, it's what our generation does.
And if such an attack happened, like on 911,
this is what we would be doing.
So I found it amazingly realistic in that regard.
So many people talk about how the movie has in a sense, become their lives.
That's because it is a symbol of all our lives.
That shows how much you internalized the film and I feel the same way really.
The movie was a huge necessary statement for how deeply this
generation has been effected by 911, for one thing.
And it also serves to galvanize the purpose of our generation to
seek a spiritual foundation, and move away from the pettiness,
materialism, and greed of our upbringings.
If only...
Hud was the voice that carried us through the movie, but like Dante's
Virgil he can only take us to the gates of Hell, and now that our
characters are there, so our guide has left us alone, but the monster
is still with us.
Perhaps Cloverfield is Hollywood's response to Japan's Godzilla, and if
so... we can expect to see more films to follow up and expand on the
story. After all it worked for Godzilla, but Godzilla was a very
charismatic monster, and only time will tell if our new monster has the
staying power of a Godzilla.
The problem some are having with the camera surviving the way it did,
through all that destruction, is a cautionary tale. That we have made some
amazing advances in technology.
We can make hand cams that can survive the apocalypse in a word,
but we cannot save ourselves. Perhaps it shows a deeper understanding
that we are off our path, that we have lost sight of what really matters,
and what it really means to be human.
I look forward to seeing a sequel and hope one will be forthcoming, the
monster looked pretty sweet especially near the end.
J.J. Abrams is the master of symbolism, as lovers of the series "LOST"
will agree, and I knew this movie would not be any different. So I took
special care to notice every detail and consider the importance. For
those who couldn't care less, you can stop reading now
I honestly find no fault with this film. Though it really has to have a
sequel, it just HAS to.
They simply cannot CREATE a horror franchise out of nothing,
or rather inspired by a 50 year old franchise, namely Godzilla,
personalize it to the symbolism of a post 9/11 world and NOT go anywhere with it.
They are obligated to at this point.
You cannot pick up the reigns then suddenly decide to
put them back down again.
It is far too important of a symbolic message to be told about USA,
and our current need to humble ourselves in the face
of so much tragedy and lessons unlearned in our past.
We are moving into a brave new world, and
unlike that camera, perhaps we will find strength to survive it.
Symbolism
1. Dharma Logo from LOST shown in the beginning of the film
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6170/vlcsnap218435ig9.png
2. Movie starts at 6:42am and ends at 6:42am
3. No Exit sign in the subway
4. 3:16 AM
Rob's mother calls him at precisely 3:16 AM
in the subway where he talks of his older brother's death.
John 3:16 of the New Testament reads:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Connections? I have no idea.
5. The empty carriage
The ghostly carriage being pulled by two white horses...
perhaps the pale
horse of Death in Revelations.
6. Sephora and the Black Line
The first big one was Sephora, the name on the first building they stop
at after the bridge collapse.
Sephora written on a wall with black lines.
Sephora in Hebrew means bird, and Sephira is singular for the spheres
of the tree of life in the kabbalah, and the black line in the tree of
life represents the tail end of the abyss, or the dark night of the
soul.
So you have the bridge, and abyss between the two realms of existence.
The bridge has been destroyed, there is no escape, no exit as shown by
the sign in the subway we focus on quite clearly. The time is 3:16AM,
biblical reference John 3:16.
JJ Abrams loves detail and references like this, anyone who watches
LOST will attest to that.
The first three Sephiroth, called the Supernal Sephiroth, are
considered to be the primordial energies of the universe. The next
stages of evolution on the Tree of Life are considered to exist beyond
a space on the tree, between the Supernals and the other Sephiroth,
called the Abyss, because their levels of being are so distinct from
each other that they appear to exist in two totally different
realities. The Supernal Sephiroth exist on a plane of divine energy.
This is why another correspondence for Binah is the idea of suffering,
because the Supernal Maternal energy gives birth to a world that is
inherently excluded from that Divine Union.
The Tree of Life does not only speak of the origins of the physical
universe out of the unimaginable, but also of man's place in the
universe.
7. Woman on the building looking in the same direction as the characters
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/878/vlcsnap216210kn8.png
8.Spongebob Episode: Musclebob Buffpants playing in Electronics Store
Spongebob episode playing in the electronics store
reveals two things:
1. Spongebob lives in a pineapple UNDER THE SEA. (Where the monster is from)
2. The episode they show is when Spongebob gets the fake buff arms,
he walks like the monster does (Reverse elbow thing)
9. Camera surviving
Perhaps a testament to our inability to make
spiritual lives as durable as our materialistic society
10. Connection to 911
And the effect 911 has had on our generation, just as
Godzilla is a symbol for Japan and the effects of the A bomb.
11. Saturday May 23
This would have to be either 1998, 2009, 2015, or 2020
TIMELINE
-- 27 April: Rob and Beth's Trip to Conney Island ---
06:41 AM - Rob begins filming in Beth's father's apartment
11:15 AM - Rob and Beth make their way, via train, to Conney Island
06:17 PM - "Satellite" falls into the ocean
--- 22 May: Party Planning ---
06:43 PM - Lily and Jason visit the store to buy items
07:19 PM - Jason gets HUD to film the recordings
08:10 PM - Party has begun, Lily records her message for Rob
--- 23 May: The Attack ---
Midnight:
12:11 AM - Beth records her message for Rob
12:32 AM - The "Earthquake" occurs.
12:35 AM - Party heads towards the Brooklyn Bridge
One O'Clock:
01:20 AM - They arrive at the Brooklyn Bridge
(it would probably take them less then an hour but more then half an hour to walk the distance)
01:35 AM - Monster's tail takes out the bridge; it kills Jason and quite a lot of other people.
01:45 AM - The group escapes from the bridge
01:48 AM - Rob heads into the electronics store
Two O'Clock:
02:05 AM - Arrive in the subway during the attack
02:20 AM - Start to walk the subway tracks
Three O'Clock:
03:16 AM - Mom calls Rob on his cell in the Subway
03:20 AM - Get attacked by the "parasite" monsters
03:25 AM - Rest for a bit after the attack
03:30 AM - Arrive at the Military Outpost
03:32 AM - "Escape" and head towards Beth's
03:40 AM - Arrive outside of Beth's apartment
Four O'Clock:
04:00 AM - They spot the monster from Beth's rooftop
04:55 AM - Escape from the building next to Beth's apartment and for the helicopter evacuation point
Five O'Clock:
05:25 AM - Lily leaves via the first available helicopter
05:58 AM - Rob, HUD and Beth's helicopter arrive
Six O'Clock:
06:05 AM - Their helicopter is attacked and falls from the sky
06:28 AM - Beth and HUD pull Rob from the wreckage of the helicopter
06:32 AM - HUD is "eaten" by the monster then killed
06:42 AM - Final "goodbyes" by Rob and Beth
TRIVIA
If you remember that bit when everyone's running away
from the Bridge down at the base of it (under the Bridge after it collapses),
and Hud falls down then gets up again?
That was the Director of Photography, and it wasn't supposed to happen.
But it was the take they ended up using.
FAQ
1. Why is the movie titled Cloverfield?
The name originally was code so no one would find out
what the movie is really about. Cloverfield is the name of the road
outside the studios where the film was produced.
They changed the name many times to keep the plot a secret,
in the end they went back to Cloverfield for no other reason.
2. Did they nuke the monster at the end of the movie?
No they did not.
If they nuked the monster the EMP blast would have
erased the footage on the camera,
and as we know this was not the case.
The footage was found in tact sometime in the future
which is how we are all watching it.
3. Was Hud's name a pun/acronym?
You hit the nail on the head.
The character was called Hud because in essence, he was our heads up display,
our POV into the movie.
4. Why did Marlena explode?
"The creature was a parasite and parasites have a chemical
when they bite to make the blood flow of their "host" increase for feeding, right?
Now, for the giant monster it was normal; like a leach on a human
or a small parasite attached to a shark. However,
for Marlina and with the size of those parasites (dog-sized) it was
too much chemical at one time.
If you have seen the movie then remember her eyes
right before she explodes; their bleeding.
There was just to much blood flow for her body to handle
so she just exploded like a giant water balloon."
Theory by
JustDave1987 from IMDb
"If the person's heart is compromised, it would also affect the circulatory system...
in this case, the parasite toxins contributed to a rapid and progressive heart failure...
in this case, Marlena's expansion can be attributed to a acute and rapid edema
throughout her body because of this rapid circulatory compromise,
with blood and fluid backing up and accumulating throughout her body."
Theory by
spiritwarriorforholytrin from IMDb
5. What falls into the water at the end of the movie?
Confirmed by J.J Abrams, a piece of the satellite
falls into the ocean at the end of the movie, in the Rob/Beth Coney Island footage.
The satellite did not awaken the monster, but rather what the satellite helped the company FIND.
The deep sea bed nectar used in the slusho drinks for the company
Rob is going to Japan to work for contracted deep sea drilling
for their secret ingredient. The satellite was used to locate the ingredient.
The drilling woke the monster, not the satellite.
6. Where is the monster from?
Confirmed by J.J Abrams, the monster comes from the ocean's depths.
7. Is there a connection to Abrams tv show "Lost"?
Dharma Logo shown in the beginning of the film "Cloverfield"
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6170/vlcsnap218435ig9.png
It is meant as a hello to Lost fans.
Any Lost references in this movie is a nod hello to Lost fans,
and that is all. No Lost easter eggs or references are meant to
connect the movie to the TV show in ANY way,
and that is per J.J. himself.
Alas, Lost has nothing to do with this movie.
8. How tall is the monster?
I read somewhere that it is roughly 25 stories tall, or approximately 250 feet tall.
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverfield
Wikipedia entry
.:.
http://jasonaclark.com/2008/01/23/cloverfield-end-credit-static-revealed/
Nice site with audio footage and images.
.:.
Marlena Explosion Active GIF Image
Link
.:.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&video id=%20%20%20%20%20%2026261076
Video on Myspace that contains ALL of the fan-made concept art
which took six months to compile.
.:.
http://current.com/topics/76014742_cloverfield
.:.
SLUSHO! You can't drink just 6
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