Have you ever watched a Godzilla movie and thought, "I wonder what this is like for the thousands of nameless, screaming Japanese running amongst the flaming rubble of Tokyo?" Cloverfield answers this question: it sucks for those nameless, screaming people--sucks hard. Equal parts nauseating and amazing, Cloverfield tells the touching story of a pissed of monster who wakes up one morning and decides to decapitate the Statue of Liberty and the lives of the people he touches (i.e. stomps flat). In truth, it's really more about the people on the ground then the skyscraper-sized behemoth running amuck in the Big Apple, which makes Cloverfield a brilliant and engaging piece of cinema. A lot has been said about the human characters in Cloverfield--they're cardboard cut-outs, bad actors, etc.--and by and large that's true, but it also doesn't matter at all. Their fear feels real, their desire to aid an injured friend rings true, so what does it matter that I can't remember any of their names? The filming style has also been criticized, but I'd like to see anyone hold a camera steady when they are being chased by insectoid-parasites dropping off the flesh of a snarling creature from the sea.
Cloverfield is a new twist on a cheesy (but completely awesome) genre, making it an obvious first choice for our new Classics feature.
