cloverfield.

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  • woodyBatts0

    * SPOILER ALERT *
    Sorry for breaking the rules of a long post, I just spoke to some friends who were intrigued on my take, so here's to sharing...

    I saw it this morning, I was left feeling a little weird b/c I am a total film buff. Those who know me know I watch an average of a movie a day, so when I saw Cloverfield I was really excited to see a New York Monster movie, but I left a little disappointed and a bit intrigued at the same time.

    Now a few years ago I went to the Japan Society...I think with Tara from here. The society had a show called "Little Boy" about the ramifications of art in post-Hiroshima/Nagasaki Japan. One of the items they talked about was that Godzilla was the incarnation / metaphor of nuclear & incendiary weapons destroying Japan, so I pretty much walked in knowing that Cloverfield was going to be an allusion to 9/11.

    So as soon as we start we see the explosion, which is the old WTC site, then we get the Statue of Liberty head, which is a pretty direct reference to Escape from New York
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082…

    Then we are bombarded with shots of smoke via 9/11. The they flee into a bodega which is exactly what happens in this 9/11 documentary
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312…

    When I say the shots are similar, I really mean they are exact! Through the movie there are constant references to various films that all deal with monsters, destruction and rage. In the final scene, under the bridge is almost exactly like the end of Miracle Mile http://www.imdb.com/name/nm02089…
    including the helicopter and everything!

    So after all was said and done, I thought to myself that Reeves / Goddard are incredibly stupid, or ridiculously brilliant. Stupid in that he ripped off other movies, brilliant in the fact that he figured some people may pick up on this and peel away the facade of the monster movie. I vote for the latter, what do you think?

    BTW, it was worth my $10

    woodyBatts 0Permalink
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