New York Is The New Tokyo
Posted on | January 27, 2008 at 6:38 pm | 5 Comments
I saw a theater movie yesterday, which is pretty rare for me these days. It had a fairly standard plot. Tell me if you haven’t seen this one a thousand times:
1) Guy sleeps with his best gal pal and discovers he loves her as more than just a friend.
2) Guy gets a job in a foreign country and decides not to profess his love for gal pal.
3) The two of them have a fight when gal pal brings another guy to first guy’s going-away party; she leaves in a huff.
4) Giant monster attacks the city, disrupting the going-away party and generally destroying everything and killing a lot of people.
5) Girl is trapped and injured on the other side of the city, so guy & his friends go to rescue her instead of evacuating the city like the intelligent people do.
And, oh yeah:
6) Guy’s guy pal is holding a video camera and he records every moment of the action.
I am speaking, of course, of the #1 movie in the country last week: Cloverfield. [Some spoilers follow] I had been looking forward to this one for a long time; I’m a Godzilla fan, so I was interested to see what would happen when someone took that kind of thing semi-seriously. It’s a thrill ride, but you do have to leave your disbelief at home. For example, it’s really, really hard to believe that the amateur guy with the camera would’ve been holding onto it for as long as he did, while also getting such great shots. I’d be like “Screw recording this for history/posterity, I’m saving my own skin!” That camera (and the heroes) sure went through a lot and survived for a long time. I also found it somewhat hard to believe that not only would the guy would go back for the girl, but also that his friends would go with him, especially after he had just lost his brother to the monster. And the brother’s girlfriend (fiancé?) was one of the accompanying friends; neither of them seemed real torn up about the dead brother. And, oh yeah, don’t get me started about the helicopter crash…
I was largely unfamiliar with the cast, aside from Lizzy Caplan, whom I remember from the short-lived sitcom The Class last year (she was the best thing on the show). They all did an adequate job with what must’ve been a pretty tough acting gig. The handheld camera is a bit disorientating at first, but you get used to it.
I’m glad that they did show some revealing shots of the monster; I was afraid it’s true form would remain hidden for the whole movie. The creature was fairly well conceived and animated, though it couldn’t help but look silly sometimes. I wish they had told us where it came from, but I suppose they’ll save that for the inevitable sequel.
I’m sure the ending rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, but I didn’t really see any other way it could go. Feel good movie of the year, this is not!
In summary: I enjoyed it a lot and it had me on the edge of my seat. It was suspenseful but also kinda silly. Good popcorn movie. Reminded me a bit of the original Poseidon Adventure. It moved along briskly and I’m glad it wasn’t any longer. And it did give a bit more closure than the Blair Witch Project, though that’s not saying much. And it’s way, way better than the American version of Godzilla, which also featured a monster attacking New York along with a lot of little monsters.
Oh, and I don’t give a fig about whether it was supposed to invoke 9/11 or not.
Latre.
Comments
5 Responses to “New York Is The New Tokyo”
January 28th, 2008 @ 10:28 am
The previews reminded me too much of Blair Witch to want to spend money on it. Maybe I could be talked into seeing it if the writing is better than, “We’re lost” “Screw you. We’re not lost.” “Yes, we are lost.” (Repeat for the next 90 minutes.)
January 28th, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
…and did you see the monster in the background on the final video clip when they were at the park?
January 28th, 2008 @ 8:14 pm
I see monsters everywhere. In the immortal words of BÖC:
Monsters, monsters, monsters…..In the night
Monsters, monsters, monsters…..In black and white
Monsters, monsters, monsters…..Out of control
Monsters, monsters, monsters…..When you’re alone
Monsters, monsters, monsters…..Feed on themselves
Monsters, monsters, monsters…..On the road to hell
January 28th, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
I hate to tell you this but…your evil backwards twin is stalking your site.
January 28th, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
PS: he can’t spell at that well, though.