Blu-ray Review: Cloverfield

Brace yourself and get the barf bag ready as Cloverfield is set to take you through a dizzying tale of escape and survival in a besieged post-911 New York city.

Cloverfield, by rookie film director Matt Reeves, is filmed from the point of view of a single camera. It starts early in the morning as Jason Hawkins (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas) videotape their preparations for a farewell party for Jason’s brother Rob (Michael Stahl-David) who is about to leave for his job in Japan. As the party gets started, Jason entrusts Hudson “Hud” Platt (T.J. Miller) with videotaping the testimonials for Rob. As Hud goes about his duties, he tries (unsuccessfully) to flirt with his crush Marlena Diamond (Lizzy Caplan). The party is interrupted as the building shakes and suffers a power outage. Shortly thereafter, a huge explosion rocks Lower Manhattan and sends debris flying towards the building. As the partygoers escape the building, the streets become filled with panicked citizens, Hud records what seems to be a giant alien monster between the buildings…

More juicy details after the jump.

As buildings collapse around them, Jason tells everyone that they need to escape Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge, but as they cross the span, the monster crushes part of the bridge, sending Jason and hundreds of people to their deaths.

Being forced to return to Manhattan, the grief stricken Rob decides to head uptown to try to save Beth McIntyre (Odette Yustman), the woman he loves, though he’s afraid to tell her how he feels. Beth is trapped in her apartment, and on the way there, the group is caught in the crossfire between the US military and the mysterious monster, and narrowly escapes into the subway, only to be further attacked by the monster’s parasitic creatures. With all the chaos around them, will the group reach and rescue Beth? Will the monster continue to devastate the city, or will the US government give the go-ahead for the “Hammerdown” protocol in a last-ditch attempt to control the monster?

Cloverfield is intense and decidedly frenetic with the shaky camcorder feel helping to ramp up the anxiety and tension felt by the protagonists as they try to survive the attack. I found it pretty nauseating and suspenseful, which some people would say is a good thing.

Cloverfield has a run time of 85 minutes and is rated 16LNV. This Blu-ray release presents the film re-mastered in High Definition (HD) and comes with special features including:

• Director’s Commentary
• Special Investigation Mode — In this mode, the film plays in a small window, and a map to the left of the screen tracks the movements of the civilians, military, and the monster during the attack. Some facts about the characters and locations are displayed as well.
• The Making of Cloverfield — Interviews with the cast and crew, and behind-the-scenes footage.
• Cloverfield Visual Effects — An overview of the CG effects used in the movie, from the destruction of New York, to the monster, to enhancing the feel of the shaky camcorder.
• I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge! — Shows the history and design of the Cloverfield monster.
• Clover Fun — Outtakes from the film.
• Deleted Scenes — Scenes that didn’t make it into the film. They come with optional director’s commentary.
• Alternate Endings — Two alternate endings are presented with optional director’s commentary.

Cloverfield was kindly supplied for review by Nelmari Claassens, SterKinekor Entertainment Marketing Manager for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Go to www.bluraydisc.co.za to view the latest Blu-ray news, reviews, and competitions featured on the Blu-ray newsletter. Sony Pictures can be found on the Web at www.sonypictures.com.