cloverfeild beginning evalutation

Controversy is the key word with clover field. And puking, but we’ll get to that. Turning the monster genre on its head, clover field showed itself in a way not used before in its genre. We saw through the eyes of everyday normal people what would happen if a three hundred meter tall beast decided to take a stroll through a modern city. When shown at cinemas it had to be accompanied with a motion sickness warning because people were getting sick from the high paced action and hand held madness that ensued once the film began.
The story begins like any normal home made movie, showing a group of friends preparing a leaving. During the usual emotions of any party a news report comes on stating that a large ship has experienced some sort of accident so the group decides to go the roof to see if they can see anything. Queue a huge explosion that signals the beginning of a number of eye candy set pieces, ranging from the decapitated head of the statue of liberty being thrown through the streets to the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge. After a rather dreadful evacuation attempt, the group decide to head back into the city to rescue one of their friends who is trapped in a partially collapsed building. As you do. A few deaths and set pieces later and the group, now substantially smaller, get rescued. During this time we learn the monster is virtually indestructible. As if to prove this point, the helicopter the group is in is downed by the creature. Another death later and the last two of the group are left huddling under a bridge as the military activate a final desperate measure of attack. The film ends with the fates of the creature and the two people left unanswered, but its is implied that they perish. However, if you view to the end of the credits there is a message that when played backwards says ‘its still alive’, thus leaving the more perceptive viewer on a huge cliff hanger that as of present has yet to be answered.
Despite the only slightly better then average storyline (lets face it, you wouldn’t go back to a city being overrun by a monster no matter how much you cared for a girl) I found I really enjoyed this movie. In my opinion this is because of the monster and lack of it throughout the story as well as the use of the hand held camera. The way you only saw parts of the monster, especially one so big, made it that much more terrifying and satisfyingly good when it was fully revealed. This is one of two things that really grabbed my notice in this film and that I want to transfer to my own piece. The other is the hand held camera. The very fact that it was handheld simply added to the realism. It drew you into the film, whether that be in frustration, confusion or stomach issues, it still held your attention even in the boring bits. Ah the boring bits. It has to be said the clip I watched (the beginning) was unquestionably boring. At a length of twenty minutes it teetered on unbearable. In hindsight however you see that this was a vital part of the film as it establishes the characters and allows the audience to relate to the as ordinary people, even if it was a bit long. So the second thing would be the use of the camera, as I believe that with it and my idea (now thoroughly taking shape) it will produce some great results.