Cloverfield

Ein effektvolles Häppchen, das für Gänsehaut sorgt. Endlich hat jemand erfolgreich die Idee aus Blair Witch Project auf ein neues Level gebracht. Die Hälfte des Budgets sind visuelle Effekte, die andere Hälfte der Skywalker Sound. Der Dolby-Sound ist sehr wichtig! Erwarten Sie aber keinen seriösen Film. Das Monster und die (ausgezeichnete) "Ouvertüre" von Michael Giacchino im Nachspann wirken so, als ob sie aus einem Science-Fiction-Film aus den 50er Jahren stammen würden. Cloverfield ist ein klassischer Stoff, der in das Medienzeitalter transformiert wurde. Emmerichs Godzilla ist eine Schande. (21.01.2008)

Even though it wants to look The Blair Witch Project in terms of realism, there were many scenes that felt unnatural, for example, the attack by the little aliens, the infection of a loved one or the helicopter. I'm just not able to believe that at such pivotal moments, when my life (or that of my loved ones) is on the line, I would still be willing to view my surroundings through a camera screen, no way. Otherwise, a perfectly done job (the effects, the production design, the monster’s appearance) and a deliciously apocalyptic atmosphere with some shots that take on a sweetly surreal touch (e.g. a white horse pulling a carriage at the epicentre of the monster's rampage). The experience is multiplied many times over if you can watch the film in a darkened cinema on a big screen and with a top-notch sound system. (16.05.2008)

After watching it a second time several years later, I'm raising my rating because I appreciate above all the fantastic demonstration of the implementation possibilities. Goddard politely circles around genre clichés but manages to profile the protagonists, and Reeves takes the whole thing to a new level with a clever POV, showing only as much of the titular monster as the audience needs, though we’re certainly begging for more. Fantastic special effects and a perfect soundtrack move the film into top form. At a time when polished CGI is the standard, the flying head, the iconic bridge, and the leaning building look like a technical treat from a time yet to come. 4 ½. (07.04.2016)

Veranschaulichungsbeispiel einer unwirksamen Wirkung. Ich hatte während eines Großteils des kurzen Filmmaterials des Films das Gefühl, Zeuge der Ausführung eines typisch spärlichen Drehbuchs für einen Katastrophenfilm zu sein, der clever mit ausgefeilten technischen Mittel umhüllt war und dem Publikum roh serviert wurde. Dies ändert leider gar nichts an der Tatsache, dass unter der rohen Verpackung Cloverfield gut durchbraten, manchmal gar angebrannt ist. Eigentlich müssen wir selbst das technische Design im Kontext der Zeit betrachten - es reicht schon, wenn wir es uns ansehen, inwieweit die Handcam beispielsweise in derzeitigen amerikanischen Serien dominiert. Unter diesem Gesichtspunkt hat Produzent J.J. Abrams seinen Finger perfekt am Puls der Zeit gehalten und präsentierte dem Publikum einen Film vertrauten Aussehens und Inhalts, welcher der gegenwärtigen Besessenheit mit dem Gefühl einer Gefährdung voll und ganz entspricht. Doch leider ist Cloverfield nicht mehr als ein Cover und selbst das Cover spielt nur aufs erste Signal. Dieser Film ist setzt sich nun aber wirklich nur aus Bild und Ton zusammen. Miese Charaktere, affektierte Schauspieler, kein Inhalt. Obwohl es sich hier zweifellos um eine hochwertige Genreangelegenheit handelt, so hat mich die Art, wie beim Film nachlässig verborgene Konventionalität durchschimmert, regelrecht enttäuscht. Trotz bescheidener Erwartungen ... [6/10] (27.01.2008)

"I'm documenting." I am devastated that Cloverfield is just an average picture. It was a really nice idea (despite being pipped to the post by that Spanish zombie movie - Rec - that I’m intrigued to see). That goes hand in hand with the convincing stylization. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the sound is just perfect. The music composition during the closing credits was just delicious. And lastly the entire movie up to the storming by the army was absolutely gripping. Unfortunately, the creators then ran out of ideas, just recycling those already used, all of a sudden the chosen style no longer has anything to offer and primarily the characters’ reaches the pinnacle of illogicality and starts to be actively annoying. If this were just another classic Godzilla movie, that wouldn’t matter at all, but pseudo-documentaries trying to be “what would happen if" realistic, this is really surprising and ruins the entire concept. And the last five minutes really puts the icing on the cake. Why couldn’t it have finished with that fall? This way, although it has a clean running time of about seventy five minutes, in the end even that is too long. And it’s a huge shame. (27.01.2008)

When original ideas were being distributed, Abrams and his gang were ahead of the game. How else can one explain that a story of a worn-out genre, filmed using a technique proven since the forests of Maryland, can transform into a perfect hit only with the help of a veil of mystery, attracting crowds who gladly devour it? An amazing experience that, with its suggestiveness, didn't let me properly sleep on the day of the screening. (22.02.2008)

An excellent piece of work, made all the better for being so short. After a while I was even wishing the film had been longer. And the "real camera" shots are really cool. (02.11.2010)

Great. The creators of Cloverfield exceeded my expectations. A journey around New York has never been so terrifying and intense. But back to the beginning. The introductions to the main characters was done really nicely and doesn’t seem too forced. Definitely the best of the team is Hud. The cameraman who (it seems) had never held a camera in his hands before shows the most important things, adding a suitable commentary to the picture and is really intent on filming this documentary from life. I don’t think I have ever felt such an affinity with a character as I did with Hud. The rest of the cast is fine too, but I won’t go into it too much, to let Hud shine through. ;) And now to the most important thing. The monster seems like it’s crawled out of one of those dark fantasies by H. P. Lovecraft. It really is horrible (Godzilla was pretty in comparison), has no name (in fact we don’t know if it’s a him or a her) and what it does is a dream come true for monster movie fans. He appears suddenly, unexpectedly and at the most apt moments. He demolishes bridges, tramples tanks and still keeps something up his sleeve for the finale. And have I saw that he’s really horrible yet? And that he has big, spikey teeth? And his repulsive followers are almost the same, always turning up at the least appropriate moments (absolute darkness, dark places behind doors etc.). And the hand-held camera is great, draws you into the action and I personally have nothing against it. Quite the opposite. Congratulations, Abrams, congratulations, Reeves. And those readers who haven’t seen Cloverfield yet... GET ON DOWN TO THE MOVIE THEATER! Believe me, this is movie that you just have to see on the big screen. (01.02.2008)

It is a blast, but sometimes the excessive effort to push for authenticity at all costs can be bothersome. After all, there are simply moments when even the toughest journalist, reporter or cameraman wouldn’t be able hold the camera and would run to save their own life. So besides the fact that director, Matt Reeves, basically shouts to the world “look how realistically I filmed this” thanks to these scenes, the film does not suffer from any significant shortcomings. The characters behave quite believably, the chaos and confusion are excellently portrayed, and the sense of unpredictability is brilliant. Only the clichéd subplots of the story (except for the rampage of the monster and the rescue of the loved one – as later revealed) get a bit boring, but among all the explosions, shooting, and falling buildings, there is not much time for it anyway. (23.06.2008)

Or How to effectively combine a classic monster movie with the modern tradition of found footage horror. It's no wonder that Reeves and Goddard are building such promising Hollywood careers thanks to this. Cloverfield is a superbly constructed recreation of a nightmare, focusing on the immediate circle of a group of hapless heroes. The story unfolds rhythmically in regularly changing locations, cleverly subverting the audience's expectations just by cramming into the foreground more genre tropes than the viewer would expect from a film with a giant monster devastating New York. I will probably need a second screening for maximum satisfaction, when the originality and narrative certainty will surely affect me even more strongly. EDIT: The second screening induced maximum satisfaction. 90% (07.08.2018)

An exemplary demonstration of terror and mob psychosis. If there’s any film that the "amateur" POV documentary style suits and looks good on, it's Cloverfield. The *SPOILER ALERT* depiction of the destroyed town and the gradual culling of more and more of the main characters *END OF SPOILER* is truly brilliant. I was exceedingly pleased with how realistic it manages to feel (and at the same time such total bullshit, as a classicist would say). (24.10.2017)